Confirmed today as part of a strong six-man lineup for tomorrow’s team time trial at the world championships, Christian Vande Velde has commented on what will be his last race as a professional cyclist, ending a sixteen year pro career.
The 37 year old American rider will try to echo the TTT winning performance of the Garmin-Sharp team in the 2011 Tour de France, combining with the five other riders to try to take gold.
If so, it would be a memorable end to his career. Either way, though, he’s determined to empty the tanks in his final hour of pro racing.
“It is an honour to have World TTT Championships be my last race, and to have the opportunity to finish my career racing alongside some of my best friends,” he said today.
“It's been a privilege to call Garmin-Sharp my home, and to ride out my career with a team that feels like family. We go into Sunday with great mix of experience and youth, and we will do our absolute best ride possible.”
Vande Velde will be joined by past Grand Tour TT winner David Millar, multiple US TT champion Dave Zabriskie, Tyler Farrar, Andrew Talansky and recent Tour of Alberta victor Rohan Dennis.
Together they will take on other favourites such as last year’s podium finishers Omega Pharma Quick Step, BMC Racing Team and Orcia GreenEdge, plus other tipped teams like RadioShack Leopard.
The team’s director of sport science, Robby Ketchell, has said that the team has had this race in mind all season, and that work was done continuously to improve the team’s speed.
“From a technical perspective, the TTT is all about the small details and for us, Worlds is the culmination of all the work we do all year,” he explained. “The team is ready and we are looking forward to tomorrow.”
Vande Velde turned pro in 1998 with the US Postal Service team and subsequently competed with Liberty Seguros and Team CSC. He subsequently moved to his current squad in 2008.
During that time he has notched up several important performances, including overall wins in the 1999 Redlands Classic, the 2006 Tour of Luxembourg, the 2008 Tour of Missouri and last year’s USA Pro Challenge. He was also a career-best fourth in the 2008 Tour de France and seventh the following year.
He was one of the US Postal Service riders who last year admitted EPO usage while with the team. His evidence was used by USADA to advance its investigation of Lance Armstrong and the US Postal Service team.
He received a reduced six month ban and had his results between June 4th 2004 and April 30th of 2006 annulled. Vande Velde insisted that he raced clean beyond that point, and said that he was committed to a better future for the sport.
According to team CEO Jonathan Vaughters, tomorrow’s team time trial is a very big priority. “Team Garmin-Sharp is 100 percent focused on our work as a team, and for that reason the TTT is always a special and important event for us,” he said.
“We have a strong team this year for World TTT Championships with a mix of great young talent in Andrew and Rohan, combined with the deep experience of TTT experts Tyler, David M, Dave Z and Christian. It should be an exciting race.”
Team Garmin-Sharp for world team time trial championships:
Rohan Dennis
Tyler Farrar
David Millar
Andrew Talansky
Christian Vande Velde
David Zabriskie