September 15/06 5:11 am - USA Cycling Announces Team Road World Championships

Posted by Editoress on 09/15/06
 

USA Cycling Announces Team for 2006 UCI Road World Championships
Courtesy USA Cycling

In the elite men's division, the United States qualified the maximum nine riders in the road race and will field a team consisting of six UCI ProTour veterans and three domestic-based pros. ProTour riders Chris Horner (Davitamon-Lotto) Fred Rodriguez (Davitamon-Lotto), Christian VandeVelde (CSC), Tyler Farrar (Cofidis), Patrick McCarty (Phonak), and Guido Trenti (Quickstep-Innergetic) join U.S.-based riders Jackson Stewart (Kodakgallery.com Sierra Nevada), Danny Pate (TIAA-CREF) and Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United) on the nine-man road race roster.

USA Cycling Professional Time Trial Champion David Zabriskie (CSC) and Baldwin were also selected to compete in the men's time trial.

All UCI ProTour riders were automatic selections to the team by virtue of their spots on UCI ProTour teams. Stewart was an automatic selection as the highest-ranked American in the UCI America Tour standings. Baldwin was the sole discretionary selection for both the road race and time trial.

The elite women's squad will consist of Amber Neben (Buitenpoort Flexpoint), Kristin Armstrong (Team Lipton), Tina Pic (Colavita Cooking Light), Christine Thorburn (Webcor Platinum), Kim Anderson (T-Mobile) and Kimberly Bruckner (T-Mobile).

Neben earned an automatic selection for the time trial based on her win at the Pan American Championships earlier this year. She was also an automatic selection for the road race as the highest-ranked American in the world.

Armstrong was also an automatic selection for both the road race and the time trial. Her win in the road race at the 2006 USA Cycling National Festival at Seven Springs earned her a nomination for the road race while her bronze-medal performance in the time trial at last year's world championships secured her spot in that event this year.

Pic was an automatic selection for the road race based on her two top-five finishes in UCI World Cup races this season.

Thorburn, Anderson and Baldwin were all discretionary selections.