Zabriskie, Farrar top names for USA world championship team

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David Zabriskie and sprinter Tyler Farrar will be the USA's top contenders for the 2010 UCI Road World Championships in Melbourne, Australia, which begin at the end of this month.

Farrar is coming off a successful Tour of Spain where he won two stages, including the final sprint in Madrid where he topped British star Mark Cavendish. He will be supported for the road race by his Garmin-Transitions teammates Zabriskie, Christian Vande Velde, Danny Pate and Tom Peterson as well as HTC-Columbia's Craig Lewis and Tejay Van Garderen, RadioShack's Jason McCartney and Cervelo's Ted King.

It is perhaps the most powerful squad the USA has assembled for the world championships in recent memory, and the country will be equally well represented in the men's espoir and elite women's races.

“We are sending three talented teams to Melbourne,” said USA Cycling V.P. of Athletics Jim Miller. “We are confident in each and every one of these athletes and believe each of the teams will be a factor in the outcome at these World Championships.”

Zabriskie and Van Garderen will also compete in the time trial.

In the women's team, Giro Donne champion Mara Abbott will not be joining Team USA in Australia, having declined the invitation due to illness.

The team will be led for the time trial by 2008 Time Trial World Champion Amber Neben and HTC-Columbia stand-out Evelyn Stevens, the reigning national champion.

Pan American champion Shelley Olds  (Peanut Butter & CO TWENTY 12) will join Stevens and Neben for the road race along with Amanda Miller (Team TIBCO), Theresa Cliff-Ryan (Colavita-Baci p/b Cooking Light), Katheryn Mattis (Webcor) and Carmen Small (Colavita-Baci p/b Cooking Light).

The U23 men's field will be led by a pair of new US Professional Road Champions: Ben King, the road race champion and his Trek-Livestrong teammate and time trial champion Taylor Phinney. Also representing the USA for the espoir races will be Andrew Talansky, the U23 time trial national champion. All three will compete in both the road race and time trial.

For the road race, the trio will be joined by 2009 national U23 champion Alex Howes (Felt-Holowesko Partners-Garmin), Chris Butler (BMC) and Carter Jones (Jelly Belly).

Elite Men

Tyler Farrar (Wenatchee, Wash./Garmin-Transitions) – road race
David Zabriskie (Salt Lake City, Utah/Garmin-Transitions) – road race and time trial
Jason McCartney (Coralville, Iowa/RadioShack) – road race
Christian Vande Velde (Lemont, Ill./Garmin-Transitions) – road race
Danny Pate (Colorado Springs, Colo./Garmin-Transitions) – road race
Tejay Van Garderen (Fort Collins, Colo./Columbia-HTC) – road race and time trial
Craig Lewis (Greenville, S.C./Columbia-HTC) – road race
Ted King (Brentwood, N.H./Cervelo Test Team) – road race
Tom Peterson (Mercer Island, Wash./Garmin-Transitions) – road race

Elite Women

Shelley Olds (Los Gatos, Calif./Peanut Butter & CO TWENTY 12) – road race
Evelyn Stevens (New York, N.Y./Columbia-HTC) – road race and time trial
Amber Neben (Irvine, Calif./unattached) – road race and time trial
Amanda Miller (Fort Collins, Colo./Team TIBCO) – road race
Theresa Cliff-Ryan (Cedar Springs, Mich./Colavita-Baci p/b Cooking Light) – road race
Carmen Small (Durango, Colo./Colavita-Baci p/b Cooking Light) – road race
Katheryn Mattis (Mountain View, Calif./Webcor) – road race

U23 Men

Benjamin King (North Garden, Va./Trek-Livestrong) – road race and time trial
Taylor Phinney (Boulder, Colo./Trek-Livestrong) – road race and time trial
Andrew Talansky (Napa, Calif./California Giant Berry Farms) – road race and time trial
Alex Howes (Boulder, Colo./Felt-Holowesko) – road race
Chris Butler (Hilton Head, S.C./BMC) – road race
Carter Jones (Boulder, Colo./Jelly Belly) – road race