Brown leads Trek-Livestrong 1-2 finish

Nathan Brown (Trek-Livestrong) surprised himself when he won the USA Cycling Under 23 Time Trial Championships on Thursday in Augusta, Georgia. He out-paced his teammate Lawson Craddock and Eamon Lucas (California Giant Berry Farms-Specialized) for the victory.

"I was very prepared for this event and I came back from Europe early so that I could get accustomed to the heat," Brown told Cyclingnews. "I also trained on my time trial bike a lot so I was very prepared and focused on nationals. The time trial was definitely a surprise though because I wanted a podium, but to win it and beat a guy like Lawson was huge for me."

Brown rode the 30km parcours in a winning time of 36:10 minutes, securing a coveted spot on the US National team at the UCI Under-23 World Championships held in September in Copenhagen, Denmark. Brown noted the strength of his development team on the world-class stage.

"It is an honour to be able to wear the stars and stripes for one full year," Brown said. "I'm going to wear it proudly. Our development team has come so far, and there are so many in the US. For us to take first and second here shows that our development is working and that Axel Merckx our directeur gives us the best advice. I'm very pleased with our team because we have come a long way."

The Under-23 men competed under warm temperatures on a 30km parcours that offered a rolling out-and-back route along Scotts Ferry Rd. The event started and finish across the face of a dam and Lake Strom Thurmond.

"It was a good day for our team with Brown winning, I got second and Carter Jones got fourth," Craddock said. "The course was definitely hard, all rolling and no spots to rest. It was all-out and a really tough race. The strongest man won for sure. We have eight of us here and will have a lot of options for the next two races."

The Under-23 men will also compete in the criterium championships on Friday and the 168km road race on Saturday.

"I look to have another great ride at the road race, but for the criterium I will just help my teammates out and see if we can win that too," Brown said.