USA Cycling Pro championships - CN

USA, August 30-31, 2008

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Race 1 - August 30: USA professional time trial championships, 20.7 mi / 33.4 km

Zabriskie defends time trial crown

Battle of the Zs comes down to five seconds

By Mark Zalewski, North American Editor in Greenville, South Carolina

David Zabriskie (Garmin-Chipotle)
Photo ©: Jon Devich

A new course and a season of injury stood in front of Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Chipotle) as he tried to defend his time trial national championship in Greenville. Despite having an off-year he targeted this race as a way to prove he is still the fastest – both to himself and to everyone else. And he did just that, riding aggressively over the fast course to beat domestic sensation Tom Zirbel (Bissell) by just five seconds.

"I didn't care what the conditions were going to be like, what the course was, I came to win!" Zabriskie told Cyclingnews after the race. "Coming back from injury this is really just my third race back," he said. "Cycling is full of ups and downs and my career has been up and down. I've had numerous injuries so I have to say thanks to all the people who stand behind me and keep believing in me."

While this result reaffirms his status as a top time trialist, he does not think it salvages his season – particularly with only 35 starters. "It feels great to have this win, but it's not like it saves my season or anything. It's me with something to prove time and time again... that I am Dave Zabriskie!"

Zabriskie said that the new course was an enigma at first. "It was a different time trial course from any I've ever seen. I did about five laps of practice a couple of days ago just to understand it! Like how we weren't going to run into each other. But the roads were big enough and it turned out to be safe – an interesting new course."

Once he figured out the course, he found a game plan. "In my head I pretended it was the Morgan Hill criterium and to be very aggressive from the start. I never let up, cresting the hills and turning the gears over as fast as possible. I went to Chann [McRae] last night and said, 'I usually don't want anyone on the radio with me but tomorrow I want you to be really aggressive with me. When I get to the top of the hills to spin, spin, spin and push. He did a great job and helped me out a lot."

Giving Zabriskie a run for his money was Zirbel, who started out slow but came on steadily over the three laps of the TT course. "I knew Zabriskie was going to bring his A game and he is one of the best in the world," said Zirbel. "I knew I was going to have to have a good ride and take some chances. I just came up short."

Zirbel was clearly disappointed with his second-place finish, having targeted this race for much of his season. "This was what I was putting all my energy into. I heard I was down pretty good after the first lap, but that was the plan, to go out conservative with this heat and length of a course. I went at my own place and made up a lot of time on the second lap. But it came down to guts on the third lap and you have to credit his toughness. He knew it was going to come down to the wire, we both did and he was tougher today."

His second place finish did spoil the sweep for Garmin-Chipotle, who still took four out of the top five with Christian Vande Velde in third, just five more seconds back. Steven Cozza came in fourth with Tom Danielson posting an early fast time and holding on for fifth.

"I felt OK, the weather wasn't the factor," said Vande Velde. "It was me being at the end of a long season. It took me a while to get going – I felt better and better throughout the race because I was going really slow at the beginning of the race."

Vande Velde said he just miscalculated his effort on the untested new TT course. "I knew it was going to be hard but I didn't know I should have gone out hard from the beginning – I put myself in too much of a deficit at the beginning to bring it back."

The biggest surprise of the day was the list of non-starters, including George Hincapie (Columbia) and Danny Pate (Garmin-Chipotle). Pate was even on the start list but did not show up for his time. Assistant director Chann McRae told Cyclingnews that Pate wanted to rest for the road race.

Also looking toward tomorrow will be Vande Velde who said today did not nearly satisfy him. "Hell no, no way. I didn't feel like I raced so I'm ready for tomorrow. We'll be going for it tomorrow!"

Photography

For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here

Images by Jonathan Devich/

David Zabriskie (Garmin-Chipotle) repeated his win in the US time trial championships.
Tom Danielson (Garmin-Chipotle) had a good ride today to round out the top five.
Andy Baker (Time Pro Cycling) gets rolling just after the start.
Phil Zajicek (Healthnet) comes by in a good aero position.
Tom Peterson (Garmin-Chipotle) sporting the argyle in TT version.
Sergio Hernandez (Rock Racing) is one of the younger riders on the team, gaining experience here.
Spencer Beamer (DLP Racing) with another rider in the distance.
Steven Cozza (Garmin-Chipotle) had some of the fastest laps.
Jonathan Mumford (Kelley Benefits/Medifast) on the front of his saddle.
Thad Dulin (DLP Racing) on the crowded TT course.
Graham Howard (Bissell) checking his power output.
Bernard Van Ulden (Jelly Belly) staring down a top-ten finish.
Christian Vandevelde (Garmin-Chipotle) went out too easy but still managed third.
Tom Zirbel (Bissell) had an amazing ride to come in only five seconds behind the winner.
Michael Creed (Rock Racing) with a good time today and sixth place finish.
Timothy Duggan (Garmin-Chipotle) on his first ride back since his horrible crash in Georgia.
Scott Zwizanski (Bissell) passes by
Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Chipotle) blazes by on his first lap.
Robert Sweeting (Toshiba/Santo) seemed to be having a good ride today.
Michael Garbinger (Successful Living) was out there showing his old triathlon skills.
Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Chipotle) comes past on his last lap of the circuit.
Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Chipotle) barrels towards his TT win.
Christian Vandevelde (Garmin-Chipotle) coming onto the podium in third spot.
Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Chipotle) looking thankful for coming back after his injury earlier in the season.
Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Chipotle) was pretty excited to be back in the stars and stripes jersey again.
Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Chipotle) first, Tom Zirbel (Bissell) second and Christian Vandevelde (Garmin-Chipotle) third (l-r).

Results

1 David Zabriskie (Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30)             40.39.40 (49.3 km/h)
2 Tom Zirbel (Bissell Pro Cycling)                            0.04.93
3 Christian Vandevelde (Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30)         0.09.91
4 Steven Cozza (Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30)                 0.34.39
5 Thomas Danielson (Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30)             0.51.81
6 Michael Creed (Rock Racing)                                 1.26.91
7 Roman Kilun (Health Net p/b Maxxis)                         1.53.87
8 Bernard Van Ulden (Jelly Belly)                             2.19.02
9 Scott Zwizanski (Bissell Pro Cycling)                       2.19.07
10 Justin Spinelli (Kelly Benefit Strategies - Medifast)      2.20.45
11 John Murphy (Health Net p/b Maxxis)                        2.22.55
12 Michael Norton (Calyon Pro Cycling Team)                   2.31.20
13 Timothy Duggan (Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30)              2.39.00
14 Graham Howard (Bissell Pro Cycling)                        2.42.50
15 Jonathan Mumford (Kelly Benefit Strategies - Medifast)     2.45.10
16 Philip Zajicek (Health Net p/b Maxxis)                     2.57.31
17 Charles Bradley Huff (Jelly Belly)                         3.01.53
18 Nick Frey (Time Pro Cycling)                               3.11.44
19 Micheal Grabinger (Successfulliving.com p/b Parkpre)       3.16.00
20 Robert Sweeting (Toshiba-Aerospace Engineering Group)      3.18.57
21 Daniel Ramsey (Time Pro Cycling)                           3.21.25
22 Matthew Crane (Health Net p/b Maxxis)                      3.35.36
23 Garrett Peltonen (Bissell Pro Cycling)                     3.38.05
24 Corney Collier (Health Net p/b Maxxis)                     3.38.49
25 Thad Dulin (DLP Racing)                                    3.52.52
26 Benjamin Kneller (The Jittery Joe's Pro Cycling Team)      3.54.55
27 Thomas Peterson (Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30)             4.07.49
28 Spencer Beamer (DLP Racing)                                4.40.51
29 Charles Eldridge (Team Type 1)                             5.08.96
30 Eric Bennett (Successfulliving.com p/b Parkpre)            5.41.01
31 Sergio Hernandez (Rock Racing)                             6.28.38
32 Andy Baker (Time Pro Cycling)                              9.22.60
DNS Danny Pate (Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30)                        
DNS Edward King (Bissell Pro Cycling)                                
DNS Jacob Rytlewski (Rite-Aid p/b Shebell & Shebell)                 
DNF Michael Stoop (Time Pro Cycling)                                 

Intermediate splits

Lap 1
1 David Zabriskie (Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30)             13.19
2 Tom Zirbel (Bissell Pro Cycling)                            0.07
3 Steven Cozza (Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30)                 0.11
4 Christian Vandevelde (Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30)         0.20
5 Garrett Peltonen (Bissell Pro Cycling)                      0.25
6 Thomas Danielson (Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30)             0.27
7 Roman Kilun (Health Net p/b Maxxis)                         0.29
8 Jonathan Mumford (Kelly Benefit Strategies - Medifast)      0.33
9 Timothy Duggan (Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30)               0.34
10 Michael Creed (Rock Racing)                                0.35
11 Scott Zwizanski (Bissell Pro Cycling)                      0.38
12 Nick Frey (Time Pro Cycling)                               0.42
13 Matthew Crane (Health Net p/b Maxxis)                      0.49
14 Justin Spinelli (Kelly Benefit Strategies - Medifast)      0.50
15 Graham Howard (Bissell Pro Cycling)                        0.51
16 Michael Norton (Calyon Pro Cycling Team)                   0.52
17 Bernard Van Ulden (Jelly Belly)                            0.53
18 Philip Zajicek (Health Net p/b Maxxis)                     0.55
19 Micheal Grabinger (Successfulliving.com p/b Parkpre)           
20 Thad Dulin (DLP Racing)                                    0.56
21 Charles Bradley Huff (Jelly Belly)                         0.59
22 Benjamin Kneller (The Jittery Joe's Pro Cycling Team)          
23 John Murphy (Health Net p/b Maxxis)                        1.00
24 Daniel Ramsey (Time Pro Cycling)                           1.01
25 Michael Stoop (Time Pro Cycling)                           1.03
26 Corney Collier (Health Net p/b Maxxis)                     1.04
27 Spencer Beamer (DLP Racing)                                    
28 Robert Sweeting (Toshiba-Aerospace Engineering Group)          
29 Charles Eldridge (Team Type 1)                             1.21
30 Thomas Peterson (Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30)                 
31 Eric Bennett (Successfulliving.com p/b Parkpre)            1.22
32 Andy Baker (Time Pro Cycling)                              1.56
33 Sergio Hernandez (Rock Racing)                             2.12
 
Lap 2
1 David Zabriskie (Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30)             26.57
2 Tom Zirbel (Bissell Pro Cycling)                            0.03
3 Christian Vandevelde (Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30)         0.16
4 Steven Cozza (Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30)                 0.21
5 Thomas Danielson (Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30)             0.50
6 Michael Creed (Rock Racing)                                 0.56
7 Roman Kilun (Health Net p/b Maxxis)                         1.15
8 Scott Zwizanski (Bissell Pro Cycling)                       1.26
9 Bernard Van Ulden (Jelly Belly)                             1.27
10 Graham Howard (Bissell Pro Cycling)                        1.28
11 Timothy Duggan (Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30)              1.34
12 Justin Spinelli (Kelly Benefit Strategies - Medifast)      1.35
13 Jonathan Mumford (Kelly Benefit Strategies - Medifast)     1.36
14 John Murphy (Health Net p/b Maxxis)                        1.44
15 Garrett Peltonen (Bissell Pro Cycling)                     1.48
16 Michael Norton (Calyon Pro Cycling Team)                       
17 Philip Zajicek (Health Net p/b Maxxis)                     1.53
18 Charles Bradley Huff (Jelly Belly)                         2.03
19 Nick Frey (Time Pro Cycling)                               2.05
20 Micheal Grabinger (Successfulliving.com p/b Parkpre)           
21 Matthew Crane (Health Net p/b Maxxis)                      2.09
22 Robert Sweeting (Toshiba-Aerospace Engineering Group)      2.12
23 Thad Dulin (DLP Racing)                                    2.13
24 Corney Collier (Health Net p/b Maxxis)                     2.15
25 Daniel Ramsey (Time Pro Cycling)                           2.19
26 Benjamin Kneller (The Jittery Joe's Pro Cycling Team)      2.22
27 Thomas Peterson (Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30)             2.57
28 Spencer Beamer (DLP Racing)                                    
29 Michael Stoop (Time Pro Cycling)                           3.04
30 Charles Eldridge (Team Type 1)                             3.33
31 Eric Bennett (Successfulliving.com p/b Parkpre)            3.34
32 Sergio Hernandez (Rock Racing)                             4.20
33 Andy Baker (Time Pro Cycling)                              5.08