USA Cycling announced today the 33 athletes named to the 2008 USA Cycling National Development Team - 23 of whom have gathered in Salt Lake City for the squad's annual training and testing camp at The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital (TOSH) until Saturday, January 19.
Several women who are part of USA Cycling's Women's National Team program have joined the young men to participate in the medical, physiological and fitness tests and instructional seminars throughout the week.
USA Cycling National Development Team athletes that are participating in the camp at TOSH include: Brad Armstrong (Burleson, Texas), Chris Barton (Ojai, Calif.), Chad Beyer (Anthem, Ariz.), Benjamin Bradshaw (Winchester, Calif.), Matthew Brandt (Sheboygan, Wis.), Austin Carroll (Orange, Calif.), Guy East (Indianapolis, Ind.), Caleb Fairly (Amarillo, Texas), Nolan Froese (Colombia, Mo.), Cole House (Oneida, Wis.), Max Jenkins (Berkeley, Calif.), Carter Jones (Maplewood, N.J.), Joseph Kukolla (Indianapolis, Ind.), Julian Kyer (Lyons, Colo.), Christopher Monteleone (Winston-Salem, N.C.), Christian Parrett (Macon, Ga.), Eric Riggs (Antelope, Calif.), Bjorn Selander (Hudson, Wis.), Taylor Shelden (Breckenridge, Colo.), Kevin Soller (Breckenridge, Colo.), Scott Stewart (Oxford, Mich.), David Talbot (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) and Tejay Van Garderen (Fort Collins, Colo.).
Women's National Team members Katharine Carroll (Sausalito, Calif.), Alison Powers (Boulder, Colo.), Christina Ruiter (Bend, Ore.) and Carmen McNellis (Durango, Colo.) are also participating in the camp.
Athletes named to the roster but absent from the training camp are Thomas Peterson (Boulder, Colo.), Kirk Carlsen (Sandown, N.H.), Daniel Holloway (Morgan Hill, Calif.), Peter Stetina (Boulder, Colo.), Andrew Cornelison (Carlisle, Iowa), Peter Salon (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Walker Savidge (Frisco, Colo.), Benjamin King (North Garden, Va.), Daniel Summerhill (Centennial, Colo.) and Grant Van Horn (Bakersfield, Colo.).
For the second consecutive year, sports medicine researcher Dr. Massimo Testa and five-time Olympic gold medalist and orthopedic surgeon Dr. Eric Heiden are overseeing the examinations and baseline medical evaluations which include EKG tests, blood tests, and analysis of anaerobic capacity and lactate levels. ´
"Max and Eric know so much and we continuously rely on their expertise to provide us with insight into the things we can't necessarily see and predict with these riders," explained Noel Dejonckheere, USA Cycling's National Development Team Director, who runs the Belgium-based American U23 program. "Ideally, the progress these young athletes make are what we are trying to measure with these scientific activities."
USA Cycling's National Development Team will kick off its 2008 race campaign with the M&M Engineering Tour of Belize from February 13-17, where Armstrong, Barton, Beyer, East, House, Riggs, Selander and Stewart will compete in the 2.2-ranked five-day stage race on the UCI America Tour.
Following the Tour of Belize, the same eight athletes - along with Fairly, Holloway, Cornelison and Salon - will head to its base in Izegem, Belgium, where they'll prepare for their European season-opener, the single-day Brussel-Opwijk. Afterwards, the team will head towards warmer temperatures for a two-week training camp at the villa in Lucca, Italy, which serves as the home base of USA Cycling's Women's National Team program.
After a successful 2007 Women's National Team campaign in Europe that saw several first-time winners on international soil, the opening of its Tuscany-based headquarters and many breakthrough performances, American women are also preparing for another season abroad.
"I didn't realize until I got here and experienced everything that is available to us in these few days - the EKG, the blood work, bike fitting - the magnitude of the opportunity that is being offered," said Carroll, a new addition to the program early last year before winning a stage of the Tour Cycliste Féminin International Ardèche in September. "The whole experience has gotten me pumped up and ready to train and show that we deserve the opportunity to be here. An activity like this gives us the opportunity to collect and analyze the data behind our performance, to show how much I've improved and where I need to get better."
The Women's National Team will begin its season Down Under with the Geelong Tour in Australia from February 21-22, the first round of the 2008 UCI Women's Road World Cup series, also in Geelong, on February 24 and the Women's Tour of New Zealand, February 27-March 2.
