Nebraska Cycling News

Americans Place Three in the Top Five; Van Garderen Fastest U23 Rider Against the Clock

Stuttgart, Germany - Kristin Armstrong (Boise, Idaho/Team Lipton) earned her third consecutive world championship medal in the elite women's time trial on Wednesday and the United States placed three athletes in the top five as the 2007 UCI Road World Championships opened in Germany.

The defending world champion, Armstrong placed second to Hanka Kupfernagel (GER) to add a silver medal to the bronze she captured in Madrid two years ago and the gold she won last year in Austria.

Teammates Amber Neben (Irvine, Calif./Flexpoint) and Christine Thorburn (Sunnyvale, Calif./Webcor Builders) also turned in strong performances, placing fourth and fifth respectively while newcomer Alison Powers (Boulder, Colo./Colavita-Sutter Home-Cooking Light) placed 20th in her first world championships.

One of the heavy favorites to claim this year's rainbow jersey on a hilly and technical 25-kilometer course, Armstrong finished 23.47 seconds off the pace of Kupfernagel's winning time of 34 minutes, 43.79 seconds.

"After having the world championship jersey, getting second place isn't easy," said Armstrong after her third-straight world championship podium appearance.  "It was a difficult day and it's hard to be world champion every year. Yesterday I told my teammates the strongest girl will win today because of the technical part and the flats. There wasn't any time to rest during the course.  I knew Hanka was a dark horse coming in because she doesn't typically race with us all year, but I knew she was a strong girl."  

Starting tenth out of 49 riders, Kupfernagel set an early standard that would not be matched as the remaining 39 riders failed to surpass her mark.  As the 19th rider to complete the course with a time of 35:46.58, Neben sat in second place until eventual bronze medalist Christiane Soeder (AUT) eclipsed her mark with a 35:25.32, temporarily bumping Neben into the bronze-medal position.  As the last rider to finish, Armstrong fell just short of becoming the first two-time world time trial champion in American history.  Just nine seconds behind Neben, Thorburn, a bronze medalist in 2006, clocked a time of 35:54.87 to place fifth and narrowly miss joining Armstrong as the only other American ever to win multiple medals in the elite women's time trial world championship.

After a breakthrough season in the international peloton this year and earning her start in Stuttgart as the 2007 Pan American Time Trial Champion, Powers finished with a time of 37:05.93 to finish 2:22.14 off the pace of Kupfernagel in her world championship debut.

With her third career world championship medal, Armstrong becomes one of only two Americans to win three or more world championship medals on the road, joining Greg LeMond who captured four road race medals in his career (gold in 1983 and '89 and silver in '82 and '85).

With her silver-medal performance on Wednesday, Armstrong also met the first automatic nomination standard for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. With only Saturday's elite women's road race left on the calendar for the 2007 season, Armstrong is already looking forward to an eventful 2008.

"I'm looking forward to going for it (world championship) again next year and also in Beijing" (at the Olympic Games), said Armstrong.  "I've defended my national title for three years now and have been on the podium of the world championships for the last three years. As long as I'm healthy and injury-free, I feel pretty good about my shot."

Also racing on Wednesday were two American U23 competitors as Tejay Van Garderen (Fort Collins, Colo./VMG Racing) and Nick Frey (Des Moines, Iowa/HART) competed against 68 other athletes in a 38-kilometer race against the clock. A first-year U23 rider, Van Garderen, 19, was the top U.S. finisher in 38th place, 3:23.81 off the pace of winner Lars Boom (NED).  Also competing in his first world championships, Frey, 20, finished 57th, 5:06.39 down.

For the second consecutive year, Mikhail Ignatiev (RUS) and Jerome Coppel (FRA) won the silver and bronze medals respectively. Ignatiev crossed the line just nine seconds slower than Boom while Coppel finished 45.59 seconds off the winner's pace.

Van Garderen, an accomplished competitor in time trials whose accolades include a junior national title in 2006 and several top-ten efforts this season, expected a better performance on Wednesday.

"It's just disappointing because I know I have form right now," said Van Garderen after falling short of his ambitions.  "I just did the Tour de l'Avenir - a 10-day stage race - and finished in the top 20 overall, so things were going really well. When I was pre-riding the course, it looked like it was actually a good one for me; a little bit technical, some climbs and a good solid downhill. One-day time trials are just weird. Everything has to come together and there's just this thing where I don't feel like I have that power for one day. I feel like I need to race for three days first and then I could fly.  It's a little bit disappointing knowing the form is there, but there's just something about a one-day time trial; I need to figure out how to do them."

Armstrong's performance gives the United States a medal in all six major UCI World Championship events this season and marked the 17th individual medal for Team USA in 2007. In January, Katie Compton (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Jonathan Page (Northfield, Mass.) and Daniel Summerhill (Centennial, Colo.) all earned medals at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships. In March, Sarah Hammer (Temecula, Calif.) and Brad Huff (Fair Grove, Mo.) claimed medals at the UCI Track World Championships. In July, Kyle Bennett (Conroe, Texas), Randy Stumpfhauser (Sanger, Calif.), Danny Caluag (Chino, Calif.) and George Sowers (Glendale, Ariz.) took home medals from the UCI BMX World Championships. In August, Taylor Phinney (Boulder, Colo.) and Jerika Hutchinson (Mt. Shasta, Calif.) won medals at the UCI Junior Road and Track World Championships. In September, Brian Lopes (San Clemente, Calif.), Jill Kintner (Seattle, Wash./GT), Melissa Buhl (Chandler, Ariz.), John Swanguen (San Diego, Calif.) and the Team Relay squad of Georgia Gould (Ketchum, Idaho), Sam Schultz (Missoula, Mont.), Ethan Gilmour (Ludlow, Vt.) and Adam Craig (Bend, Ore.) captured medals at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships.

The 2007 UCI Road World Championships continue on Thursday with the elite men's time trial.  Americans Dave Zabriskie (Salt Lake City, Utah/Team CSC) and Jason McCartney (Coralville, Iowa/Discovery Channel) will represent the United States. Coming off his second consecutive USA Cycling national title earlier this month, Zabriskie will look to defend his silver medal from the 2006 world championships while McCartney looks to finish his season with another strong performance after winning a stage of the Vuelta a España 11 days ago.

For a photo gallery of the world championships, visit www.usacycling.org/gallery.

A live broadcast of the 2007 UCI Road World Championships is also available at WCSN.com.

2007 UCI Road World Championships

Stuttgart, Germany

September 26-20, 2007:

Elite Women's Time Trial

1. Hanka Kupfernagel (GER) 34:43.79

2. Kristin Armstrong (Boise, Idaho) +23.47

3. Christiane Soeder (AUT) +41.53

4. Amber Neben (Irvine, Calif.) +1:02.79

5. Christine Thorburn (Sunnyvale, Calif.) +1:11.08

20. Alison Powers (Boulder, Colo.) +2:22.14

U23 Men's Time Trial

1. Lars Boon (NED) 48:57.93

2. Mikhail Ignatiev (RUS) +9.06

3. Jerome Coppel (FRA) +45.59

38. Tejay Van Garderen (Fort Collins, Colo.) +3:23.81

57. Nick Frey (Des Moines, Iowa) +5:06.39