USA Cycling has announced its rosters for the upcoming World Championships, to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark. The elite men’s team gets a full compliment of nine riders and with the course pointing towards a likely sprint, the US will centre its hopes around fastman Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Cervelo). Neo-pro Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing team), who yesterday left the Vuelta a España citing exhaustion and the need to recover before the worlds event, will support Farrar and will be joined by trade teammates Brent Bookwalter and Jeff Louder.
Team RadioShack will also have two representatives, with US National road champion Matthew Busche being joined by the 2010 national road champion Benjamin King.
The line up for the men’s road team includes only ProTeam riders with no domestic riders making the cut.
Timmy Duggan (Liquigas-Connondale) who recently displayed fine form in the Tour of Utah rounds out the selection along with another neo-pro who is currently taking part in the Vuelta, Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Cervelo).
The USA last won the men’s road race in 1993 when Lance Armstrong outfoxed what was left of a chasing peloton in Oslo.
Notably missing from the American time trial squad is their ace against the watch, David Zabriskie (Garmin-Cervelo). Phinney, recent winner of the Eneco Tour prologue, will be the team’s primary threat to medal, while Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Cervelo) will race against the clock as well. Talansky’s 2011 palmares sports time trial results including seventh in Paris-Nice, fifth at the Critérium International, and sixth at the Tour de Romandie.
Phinney won the world under 23 championship last year and has said that he is aiming for a medal.
Notable starters for the women include Evelyn Stevens (HTC-Highroad) and Kristin Armstrong (Peanut Butter & CO TWENTY 12) in the time trial, and Amber Neben (HTC-Highroad) highlights the road race.
Joe Dombrowski (Trek-Livestrong) will captain the American men’s U23 team. Jacob Rathe, who finished third in the under 23 version of Paris-Roubaix and who’ll be making his professional debut for Garmin-Cervelo next season, will be part of the under 23 road race. Development team Trek-Livestrong has a total of six riders part of the under 23 team for the road race and time trial event.
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2011 UCI Road World Championships, Copenhagen, Denmark
USA team roster:
Elite Men:
Brent Bookwalter (Athens, Ga./BMC Racing) - road race
Matthew Busche (Wauwatosa, WI/Team Radio Shack) – road race
Timmy Duggan (Boulder, Colo./Garmin-Cervelo) – road race
Tyler Farrar (Wenatchee, Wash./Garmin-Cervelo) – road race
Benjamin King (North Garden, Va./Team Radio Shack) - road race
Jeff Louder (Salt Lake City, Utah/BMC Racing) - road race
Taylor Phinney (Boulder, Colo./BMC Racing) – road race and time trial
Andrew Talansky (Napa, Calif./Garmin-Cervelo) - road race and time trial
Elite Women:
Kristin Armstrong (Boise, Idaho/ Peanut Butter & CO TWENTY 12) – road race and time trial
Theresa Cliff-Ryan (Cedar Springs, Mich./Colavita-Baci p/b Cooking Light) – road race
Robin Farina (Charlotte, N.C./NOW and Novartis) – road race
Amber Neben (Irvine, Calif./HTC-Highroad) – road race
Shelley Olds (Gilroy, Calif./Diadora Pasta Zara) – road race
Evelyn Stevens (New York, N.Y./Columbia-HTC) – road race and time trial
U23 Men:
Ian Boswell (Bend, Ore./Trek-Livestrong) – road race
Robert Bush (Louisville, Ky./Kentucky Flyers-Texas Roadhouse) – road race
Joe Dombrowski (Marshall, Va./Trek-Livestrong) – road race
Gavin Mannion (Dedham, Mass./Trek-Livestrong) – road race
Jacob Rathe (Portland, Ore./Chipotle Development) – road race
Choosing two from:
Nathan Brown (Covington, Tenn./Trek-Livestrong) - time trial
Lawson Craddock (Houston, Texas/Trek-Livestrong) – time trial
Carter Jones (Boulder, Colo./Trek-Livestrong) – time trial
Junior Men:
Alex Darville (Santa Barbara, Calif./Echelon Santa Barbara) – road race
Kristo Jorgenson (Boise, Idaho/BYRDS) – road race and time trial
Matthew Lipscomb (Decatur, Ga./Greenville Spinners Bicycle Club/Hincapie Development team) – road race
Paul Lynch (Colchester, Conn./Hot Tubes Development Cycling) – road race
Alexey Vermeulen (Pinckney, Mich./Prochain) – road race
Colby Wait-Molyneux (Vancouver, Wash./Hammer Nutrition-CMG Racing Team) – road race and time trial
Junior Women:
Addyson Albershardt (Matthews, N.C./FLYING PIGS) – road race and time trial
Grace Alexander (Boise, Idaho/BYRDS) – road race and time trial
Alexis Ryan (Ventura, Calif./Team TIBCO II) – road race
Xylon Van Eyck also contributed to this story