The upcoming 2005 UCI Track Cycling World Championships set for March 24-27 at the ADT Event Center in suburban Los Angeles expects to feature several top American riders, including six athletes from last summer's U.S. Olympic Team.
Athens points race bronze medalist Erin Mirabella (La Habra, Calif.), and fellow 2004 U.S. Olympians Giddeon Massie (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Marty Nothstein (Orefield, Pa.), Colby Pearce (Boulder, Colo.), Christian Stahl (Bethany, Conn.), and Jennie Reed (Kirkland, Wash.) are expected to participate. A seventh American with Olympic experience, Jame Carney (Boulder Colo.) who rode in the 1992 and 2000 Olympic Games, also plans to compete in Los Angeles.
"As the host country, we're excited about the probability of showcasing many of our most recent Olympic athletes in a world-class competition on American soil," said Gerard Bisceglia, USA Cycling's CEO.
Mirabella, whose achievements this season include a win in the points race at last December's UCI World Cup in Los Angeles, will enter the event as one of the favourites to claim a world title. Pearce nabbed a silver medal in the points race at the Los Angeles World Cup and verified his label as one of the top endurance riders in the world with a bronze medal in January's World Cup in Great Britain. Second in the overall world cup standings at the end of the season, Pearce gives the U.S. National Team another promising shot at a world championship.
Two-time Olympic medalist Nothstein will likely be competing in his final international-caliber track race. With retirement on the horizon, the 2000 Olympic sprint champion will give the cycling community one more look at the talent that made him an American icon on the velodrome.
Reed, the only U.S. world championship medalist from 2004, is also on pace for a podium performance thanks to the momentum of a keirin bronze medal in each of the last two World Cup events, including last week's third place effort in Sydney. Carney launched his 2004/05 campaign with a promising win in the scratch race at the World Cup opener last November in Moscow. Third overall in the final world cup standings, Carney will look to end his season with the same level of success at which he began.
The complete U.S. National Team will be announced by USA Cycling on March 14, following a Team USA selection camp from March 2-12.
