USA Cycling announces lackluster men’s team for Road World Championships
On Monday, USA Cycling announced the complete roster of 22 elite and U23 athletes that will represent the United States at the 2009 UCI Road World Championships, Sept. 23-27 in Mendriso, Switzerland.
Representing the U.S. in both the elite men’s road race and time trial will be Tom Danielson (Durango, Colo./Garmin-Slipstream). In the time trial, Danielson will be joined by Tom Zirbel (Boulder, Colo./Bissell), the silver medalist from this month’s USA Cycling Professional Time Trial Championships.
Complementing Danielson on the road will be eight teammates including Tyler Farrar (Wenatchee, Wash./Garmin-Slipstream), who recently won a stage of the Vuelta a Espana and three stages in the Eneco Tour of Belgium, and Brent Bookwalter (Lookout Mountain, Ga./BMC Racing Team,) who was fourth in this month’s USA Cycling Professional Road Race Championships. The squad will also be comprised of Jeff Louder (Salt Lake City, Utah/BMC), Craig Lewis (Greenville, S.C./Columbia High-Road), Andrew Bajadali (Boulder, Colo./Kelly Benefits Strategies), Jason McCartney (Coralville, Iowa/Team Saxo Bank), Tim Duggan (Boulder, Colo./Garmin-Slipstream), and Tom Peterson (North Bend, Wash./Garmin-Slipstream).
Nothing against these guys. They’ve put in some strong performances on home soil, but with the exception of Danielson and Farrar, they haven’t really competed in the shark tank that is European professional cycling. Missing from the call up at the Road championships will be Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, Dave Zabriskie, George Hincapie, Christian Vande Velde and Chris Horner.
Leipheimer, Vande Velde and Horner are all nursing injuries, of course and Lance pretty much hung up his cleats after the Tour of Ireland. I’d love to see Zabriskie take on the Worlds, if only to go after the time trial.
The U23 and women’s squads look stronger. Leading the U23 men’s squad will be Tejay Van Garderen (Superior, Colo./Rabobank Continental Team) and Peter Stetina (Boulder, Colo./Garmin-Felt-Holowesko). Van Garderen and Stetina, both fresh off of stellar performances in the Tour de L’Avenir, will compete in both the road race and time trial in Switzerland. In the road race, the pair will be joined by Kirk Carlsen (Boulder, Colo./Garmin-Felt-Holowesko), Chris Barton (Ojai, Calif./BMC), and Alex Howes (Boulder, Colo./Garmin-Felt-Holowesko).
On the women’s side, the team will be led by defending time trial world champion, Amber Neben (Irvine, Calif.), and Olympic gold medalist and three-time time trial world championship medalist (2005-2007), Kristin Armstrong (Boise, Idaho). Both women received automatic nominations to race the time trial and the road race based on their top-25 UCI rankings.
The pair will be joined in the time trial by Jessica Phillips (Aspen, Colo./Team Lip Smackers), who received an automatic nomination to race the clock with her win in the USA Cycling Elite Time Trial National Championship earlier this summer.
Neben and Armstrong will be complemented on the road race squad by four additional teammates. Kimberly Anderson (Santa Barbara, Calif./Columbia-High Road) received an automatic nomination by means of her overall win this summer in the UCI 2.1 La Route de France while Meredith Miller (Fort Collins, Colo./Team TIBCO) automatically qualified with her win in the elite women’s road race at the USA Cycling Road National Championships.
The complete roster of 22 athletes is as follows:
2009 UCI Road World Championships
Mendriso, Switzerland
September 23-27, 2009
Elite Men:
- Tom Danielson (Durango, Colo./Garmin-Slipstream)– Road Race and Time Trial
- Tyler Farrar (Wenatchee, Wash./Garmin-Slipstream) – Road Race
- Brent Bookwalter (Lookout Mountain, Ga./BMC Racing Team) – Road Race
- Jeff Louder (Salt Lake City, Utah/BMC) – Road Race
- Craig Lewis (Greenville, S.C./Columbia-High Road)– Road Race
- Andrew Bajadali (Boulder, Colo./Kelly Benefit Strategies)– Road Race
- Jason McCartney (Coralville, Iowa/Team Saxo Bank)– Road Race
- Tim Duggan (Boulder, Colo./Garmin-Slipstream)– Road Race
- Tom Peterson (North Bend, Wash./Garmnin-Slipstream)– Road Race
- Tom Zirbel (Boulder, Colo./Bissell) – Time Trial
Elite Women
- Kristin Armstrong (Boise, Idaho/Cervelo-Lifeforce) – Time Trial and Road Race
- Amber Neben (Irvine, Calif./ Equipe Nürnberger) – Time Trial and Road Race
- Kimberly Anderson (Santa Barbara, Calif./Columbia-High Road) – Road Race
- Mara Abbott (Boulder, Colo./Columbia HTC) – Road Race
- Meredith Miller (Fort Collins, Colo./Team TIBCO) – Road Race
- Evelyn Stevens (New York, N.Y.) – Road Race
- Jessica Phillips (Aspen, Colo./Team Lip Smackers) – Time Trial
U23 Men
- Peter Stetina (Boulder, Colo./Garmin-Felt-Holowesko) – Road Race and Time Trial
- Tejay Vangarderen (Superior, Colo./Rabobank Continental Team) – Road Race and Time Trial
- Kirk Carlsen (Boulder, Colo./Garmin-Felt-Holowesko) – Road Race
- Chris Barton (Ojai, Calif./BMC) – Road Race
- Alex Howes (Boulder, Colo./Garmin-Felt-Holowesko) – Road Race
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