Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Cervelo) en route to his fifth US time trial championship in six years.(Image credit: Jon Devich/Cyclingnews.com/epicimages.us)
Roman Kilun (Kenda-5 Hour Energy) concentrates on the road ahead.(Image credit: Jonathan Devich)
Paul Mach (Bissell) en route to a 15th place finish.(Image credit: Jonathan Devich)
Adrian Hegyvary (UnitedHealthcare) looking good through some of the twisty sections.(Image credit: Jonathan Devich)
Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-Highroad) will be looking for a top finish on Monday.(Image credit: Jonathan Devich)
Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Cervelo) showing his strong TT skills.(Image credit: Jonathan Devich)
Taylor Phinney (BMC) closes in on the finish.(Image credit: Jonathan Devich)
Taylor Phinney (BMC) rounds one of the last turns.(Image credit: Jonathan Devich)
Matthew Busche (RadioShack) climbs on the podium after his third place today.(Image credit: Jonathan Devich)
Tom Zirbel (Jamis-Sutter Home) looking pretty pleased with his second place ride today.(Image credit: Jonathan Devich)
The future's so bright for Dave Zabriskie.(Image credit: Jonathan Devich)
Matt Cooke (Exergy) fights his way up one of the rollers along the course.(Image credit: Jonathan Devich)
Brent Bookwalter (BMC) will be one to watch in the road race on Monday.(Image credit: Jonathan Devich)
Tom Zirbel (Jamis-Sutter Home) on the way to his second place finish.(Image credit: Jonathan Devich)
Danny Summerhill (Chipotle Development Team) tucked in and going hard.(Image credit: Jonathan Devich)
Andy Baker (Bissell) puts in a strong TT after just having become the collegiate national road champ.(Image credit: Jonathan Devich)
Reid Mumford (Kelly Benefit Strategies-OptumHealth) going fast on the back side of the course.(Image credit: Jonathan Devich)
Ben King (RadioShack) can take advantage of the rest day tomorrow to defend his road title on Monday.(Image credit: Jonathan Devich)
Oscar Clark (Realcyclist.com) giving it his all.(Image credit: Jonathan Devich)
Pro men's time trial podium (l-r): Matthew Busche, Dave Zabriskie and Tom Zirbel(Image credit: Jonathan Devich)
Andy Jacques-Maynes (Bissell) leans through a turn.(Image credit: Jonathan Devich)
Danny Pate (HTC-Highroad) putting in a good ride.(Image credit: Jonathan Devich)
Taylor Phinney (BMC) rides in defense of his TT title.(Image credit: Jonathan Devich)
Tom Zirbel (Jamis-Sutter Home) powers to a silver medal.(Image credit: Jon Devich/Cyclingnews.com/epicimages.us)
Matthew Busche (RadioShack) followed his strong ride in the Amgen Tour of California with a bronze medal in the US professional time trial championship.(Image credit: Jon Devich/Cyclingnews.com/epicimages.us)
Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Cervelo) won his sixth stars-and-stripes jersey at the USA Cycling Pro Time Trial Championships on Saturday in Greenville, South Carolina.
The California resident blazed through the three-lap, 33.3kms parcours in a time of 40:23, topping silver medalist Tom Zirbel (Jamis-Sutter Home) by 31 seconds while bronze medalist Matthew Busche (RadioShack) finished 59 seconds off the pace.
"It boils down to giving it everything I have," Zabriskie said. "I love this event and wearing the stars-and-stripes, I take a lot of pride in it. I enjoy wearing the jersey and it gets better and better. It's not easy coming here with the pressure of winning it quite a few times.
"It was a nice course and I liked it," Zabriskie said. "The last time I did it, in 2009, I felt pretty good. Today, I just wanted to destroy myself. I knew Tom's time and that I would have to fight to beat that. I was fighting for the last 500 metres and I gave it full gas. Tom rode a good time today."
Zabriskie won the time trial championships event on five previous occasions in 2004 and from 2006-2009. His five most recent championships were all won in Greenville. His time on the same course in 2009 was 39:37, the course record.
Zabriskie was the odds-on favourite to win the event having recently capturing the stage six individual time trial at the Amgen Tour of California, breaking the course record previously owned by Levi Leipheimer of RadioShack.
Zirbel last competed in the USA Pro Cycling Championships in 2009, where he placed second to Zabriskie with a time of 40:21. He was subsequently suspended for an anti-doping infraction but maintains his innocence.
Zirbel returned to the peloton in March, after a reduced one and half year suspension, and recently joined the Jamis-Sutter Home team for the season.
"I have a greater appreciation for how quickly [the sport] can go away," Zirbel said. "I will even use the term snatched away from you. It is that much more important to enjoy the moment and appreciate the gift that we were given and the opportunities that are presented to us."
Zirbel placed fourth in the UCI World Time Trial Championships in 2009 and his long-standing history as a time trial specialist made him one of the dark horse favourites on the day.
"It was definitely an emotional day for me," Zirbel said. "Before the race I was pretty focused and doing my job, but didn't know what to expect from myself. I knew I would be going good after such a hard stage race [Amgen Tour of California] but I just went about my preparation the same. Now that I have had a chance to reflect, it's emotional."
Busche put forth a strong third place performance on the day. He also came off of a good performance at the Amgen Tour of California where he helped his teammates Chris Horner and Levi Leipheimer finish first and second overall respectively.
"I didn't have expectations. I was more focused on the road race but I was here to compete and so I didn't hold back," said Busche. "I gave it some effort.
"I knew coming off of California I was in good form and when I was out there, I knew that I was having a pretty good day. The course double backs on itself and I was able to judge myself off of a few other riders."
Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.
Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.
She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.
