The Cycliste Moderne, September 4, 2006

USPRO Recap

The Labor Day weekend was the revamped USPRO Cycling Championships in Greenville, SC. Historically the USPRO Champion was crowned at the Philadelphia CoreStates/First Union/Wachovia race in June. As an open race, the first American finisher was named USPRO Champion. While Philadelphia was the richest one day race in the United States and attracted top European teams to a difficult course, because the Philadelphia race was open to all nationalities, over the past few years, the USPRO Champion was typically an American who finished third or worse. Additionally, many seasons, a minor American pro would get into the break with 4-5 europeans and sit back and get hauled to the line. The result was less than recognizeable US Champions.

Because the race conflicted with the Giro d'Italia and the Dauphine Libere, over the past eight years or so the top Americans have not been in Philadelphia. With the loss of the sponsorship of Wachovia and a desire to head in a different direction USA Cycling did one of the smarter things they had done in a while. They opened the USPRO road and time trial chamiponships up to a request for proposal and decided to move the race from Philadelphia in June to Greenville in September. The later date provided greater opportunities for top European based pros to come back and race for the Stars and Stripes Jersey.

Additionally, the USPRO time trial championship had been contested in conjunction with the US Elite Amateur races and had not been contested by top US pros based in Europe for a long time. Putting the events together meant that odds were good that the national championship jerseys would see more time in Europe next year.

Last year, Chris Baldwin won the time trial and Chris Wherry won the road title. This year they both road for Toyota-United and the team was clearly motivated to defend their titles. With the USPRO Championships open only to US riders holding professional licenses the domestic pro teams showed up clearly outnumbering the European based professionals that came to contest the race. David Zabriskie of Team CSC, Levi Leipheimer of Gerolsteiner, George Hincapie and Jason McCartney of Discovery Channel were the only pros to return from Europe as Fred Rodriguez and Chris Horner of Lotto Davitamon were both riding the Vuelta a Espana, Bobby Julich of Team CSC has wrapped his season up and Floyd Landis is well, that is another story.

In the time trial, on what to proved to be a very difficult course, Baldwin put in an epic effort to defend his title. He had the lead over time trial specialist Zabriskie until he went down in the final turn and was forced to switch bikes. Zabriskie ended up winning by thirty seconds. Baldwin would have won but for the crash. Zabriskie was expected to win due to his time trialing prowess so while disappointing, Baldwin certainly showed he is an international caliber time trialist. Zabriskie maybe could have gone faster if he had been more aerodynamic.

Toyota-United lined up at the start of the road race with 9 riders as did Health Net. TIAA-CREF showed its domestic development focus by bringing fifteen riders to Greenville. Navigators showed up with four riders evidencing the fact that it is a truly international team in its focus. The other minor domestic teams showed up as well to try their luck against the handfull of European pros. At the end of the day, they all should have just stayed home.

I have previously documented the unlucky season that George Hincapie has had. With a disasterous crash at Paris-Roubaix when his fork disintegrated and having been taken out in the final 50 Meters of the Benelux Tour which he was leading, Hincapie was in excellent shape and was in no mood to lose the USPRO Championship. It also helped that Hincapie's domestic base is Greenville, SC and he is very familiar with the course and the one big climb on each lap. Sure enough, even though the European based pros were outnumbered, Hincapie and Leipheimer worked the domestic riders over what proved to be a very difficult course. Hincapie won his second USPRO title of his career. It will be great to see the Stars and Stripes Jersey racing at the Ronde Van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix next spring.

Less Racing, More Cycling

With all the negative press about cycling at the moment, I sometimes forget that I loved bikes long before I knew what the Tour de France was or before I could even spell pave or Vlaanderen or Roubaix or Ventoux or Anquetil. Sometimes, you may wonder even if I can spell in English. From the time I got my first bike it was the most liberating thing I ever received from my parents. I remember in detail every bike I ever owned or rode. I remember every significant crash that I ever had. I remember all of the truly epic bike rides I have done since I was a kid.

So, I am not abandoning what I love, just trying to focus it again. I want my kids to love bikes and the freedom they afford, even if they never "turn a crank in anger" as Phil Liggett would say. Today, I don't race. I gave that up a long time ago. But I do love bikes and that is why we started Cyclista and CyclingMovies.Com. I have also written a lot about bikes. As such, I am going to try to include more in the future of the Cycliste Moderne about cycling, not just cycle races. Obviously, this is a seasonal thing as well as the Vuelta a Espana is the last major event before the World Championships.

And Finally

Oh, the stuff you find on the Internet that is bike related.