Nebraska Cycling News

U.S. Leads Medal Count After Day Two of Road World Championships

Salzburg, Austria (September 21, 2006)-David Zabriskie (Salt Lake City, Utah/CSC) gave the United States its third medal at the 2006 UCI Road World Championships with a silver-medal in the elite men's time trial Thursday.

One day after Kristin Armstrong (Boise, Idaho/Team Lipton) rode to a world title and Christine Thorburn (Menlo Park, Calif./Webcor-Platinum) captured a bronze medal in the elite women's time trial, Zabriskie added to the medal count to push the United States into the lead with three medals to Switzerland's two.

It was the first medal for an American in the history of the elite men's time trial since it was introduced to the world championship program in 1994. Other than Zabriskie, Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer are the only Americans ever to crack the top five.

Zabriskie clocked a time of 1 hour, 1 minute and 41.72 seconds over the 31-mile course to place second behind Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland. Cancellara posted a championship-worthy time of 1:00:11.75 to beat Zabriskie by nearly 90 seconds.

Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan was third, turning in a time of 1:02:01.47.

In his first world championships, Chris Baldwin (Boulder, Colo./Toyota-United) placed 26th for the United States, posting a time of 1:04:53.57.

Zabriskie, one of the top time trialists on the UCI Pro Tour circuit, captured his first world championship medal two weeks after winning the USA Cycling Professional National Championship. His performance in Salzburg wasn't enough to unseat a seemingly unstoppable Cancellara, but nonetheless was one of the biggest accomplishments of a career which has also seen him wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France and win stages in each of cycling's three grand tours.

"I felt good today," Zabriskie commented afterwards. "There was no way I could have gone any faster than I did. He (Cancellara) deserved to win with a time gap like that. Silver is okay, but to win is even better. Still, I'll celebrate tonight."

Despite Zabriskie's résumé, a world championship medal was one of the few triumphs he's yet to achieve before Thursday.

"My first race in Europe was the world championships in San Sebastian," he recalled. That's what inspired me to race here. It took nine years to get a medal, but now I'm motivated now more than ever to win."

Zabriskie was consistent throughout the day, rhythmically passing each of the route's three intermediate time checks in second place behind Cancellara. Clearly, the Swiss rider was the strongest on the day to become the first time trial world champion other than Australia's Michael Rogers in the last four years.

"I knew he'd be super today, but I didn't know he'd be Superman," Zabriskie quipped of Cancellara. "So congratulations to him."

Zabriskie, the eighth-to-last rider out of the gate, crossed the line with the fastest time and took his place in the hot seat to wait for the remaining riders. As pre-race favorites David Millar (GBR), Ivan Gutierrez (ESP), Laszlo Bodrogi (HUN) and Vinokourov all failed to eclipse Zabriskie's mark, and with the top-seeded Rogers well off the pace according to the mid-race splits, only Cancellara had the wherewithal to prevent the U.S. from capturing its first-ever elite men's world time trial title.

Baldwin, who was on his way to beating Zabriskie at the USA Cycling Professional Time Trial Championships two weeks ago before an eleventh-hour crash derailed his hopes, posted a respectable 26th-place effort after the U.S.-based rider rode his first 30-mile time trial since the 2003 Pan Am Games.

"I didn't have any expectations really with it being my first world's," Baldwin commented. "I just wanted to have a good experience. I tried to stay calm and not let the pressure of it being the world championships get to me, but I think the pressure did get to me and I shot out of the start gate a little hot. I did the first 10 kilometers too fast and never got my legs back under me. It could have been better, it could have been worse, but it was a great experience."

The previous best result for an American in an elite men's world championship time trial was a pair of fourth place efforts - first by Lance Armstrong in 1998, and then again by Levi Leipheimer in 2001. The only other top-ten finishes for Americans include Zabriskie's fifth-place effort in 2004, Jonathan Vaughters seventh-place effort in 1998 and Mike Engleman's eighth-place ride in 1995.

2006 UCI Road World Championships

Salzburg, Austria

Sept. 19-24, 2006

Elite Men's Time Trial

1. Fabian Cancellara (SUI) 1:00:11.75

2. David Zabriskie (Salt Lake City, Utah) +1:29.97

3. Alexandre Vinokourov (KAZ) +1:49.72

26. Chris Baldwin (Boulder, Colo.) +4:41.82