|
| Levi Leipheimer is nominated for the Beijing Olympics. (© Sirotti) |
Of the 21 athletes named on Tuesday, 12 earned automatic nominations under USA Cycling's Olympic selection procedures,
while nine additional athletes were nominated to the Olympic Team by a nine-person selection committee according to USA Cycling's
Principles of Discretion.
In the discipline of road cycling, a total of five men were nominated to the Olympic Team, while one automatic nomination
to the women's squad was announced. Levi Leipheimer(Santa Rosa, Calif.) was the only automatic qualifier as a result of a
top-three finish in a UCI Grand Tour between July 1, 2007 and July 1,2008. Leipheimer placed third overall at the 2007 Tour
de France when he finished just 31 seconds off the pace of teammate Alberto Contador of Spain and eight seconds back from
runner-up Cadel Evans of Australia. An Olympian in 2004, Leipheimer will represent the United States in his second Olympic
Games.
Discretionary selections to the men's road squad include George Hincapie (Greenville,
S.C.), Jason McCartney (Coralville, Iowa), Christian Vande Velde
(Boulder, Colo.) and David Zabriskie (Salt Lake City, Utah). All discretionary nominations were made by USA Cycling based on an
athlete's capability to medal or otherwise enhance team performance and create a medal capable environment.
Nominated to his fifth Olympic Team, Hincapie becomes the only five-time Olympic cyclist in U.S. history. McCartney and
Vande Velde will each compete in their second Olympic Games. McCartney was a member of the 2004 squad on the road, while Vande
Velde was a member of the track squad in 2000. Zabriskie will be making his first Olympic appearance.
Hincapie, Leipheimer, McCartney, Vande Velde and Zabriskie will all compete in the mass start road race.
Since no men's road athletes met the automatic criteria to compete in the individual time trial, Leipheimer and Zabriskie
received discretionary nominations to fill the United States' two start positions in the race against the clock. Two of the
United States' most decorated time trialists in recent history, Leipheimer and Zabriskie have consistently medaled in world-class
races over the course of the last several years. Most notably, Leipheimer won stage 19 of the 2007 Tour de France and stage
5 of the 2008 Tour of California. He also finished on the podium in two other UCI ProTour events - the prologue of the 2007
Dauphine Libere and stage 8 of the 2007 Tour of Germany. A silver medalist in the time trial at the 2006 UCI Road World Championships,
Zabriskie also won two Grand Tour time trials - stage 1 of the 2005 Tour de France and stage 8 of the 2005 Giro d' Italia.
He has also appeared on the podium in three additional Grand Tour time trials since 2005 and has captured two consecutive
USA Cycling Professional Time Trial titles (2006-07). Most recently, Zabriskie finished third in stage 3 of the 2007 Dauphine
Libere and second in stage 5 of the 2008 Tirreno-Adriatico.
Kristin Armstrong (Boise, Idaho), by virtue of her silver medal
in the time trial at the 2007 world championships last September, earned the sole automatic nomination to the women's road
team. The 2008 Games will be Armstrong's second Olympic appearance after competing in the road race in Athens. Armstrong is
automatically qualified to contest both the road race and time trial in Beijing.
Join our Forum and discuss Olympic Road Race 2008
Back to:
Other stories
Get news and updates of our live coverage calender and the latest information about our new project www.peloton.tv . Subscribe to our newsletter:
|
