Florida cyclist wins “Race to Replace”

(UPDATE: Dec. 7, 2006 — Lance Armstrong “replacement” says drug use in cycling is rampant)

Could amateur cyclist AJ Smith be the next Lance Armstrong?

Who knows, but the bicycle racer from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, did win the “Race to Replace” contest Saturday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway sponsored by the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team.

Smith raced 10 laps around the 2.5-mile speedway faster than others in his 25-34 age bracket. He also set the fastest time for the day among the 365 cyclists from 33 states who attended the event.

As the winner, Smith gets to attend the US Pro Championships in Greenville, S.C., on Sept. 1-3 as an honorary member of the Discovery Channel team. A quick check of CyclingNews shows that Smith raced on the AEG-TOSHIBA-JetNetwork team earlier this summer.

The winners by category:

18-24 — Bennet van der Genugt of Bloomington, Indiana, 57:29.0;

25-34 — AJ Smith of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., at 52:42.4;

34-49 — Christopher Gottwald of Vineland, N.J., at 55:22.6;

50-plus — Daniel Waite of Dayton, Ohio, at 1:00:52.1.

The event also served as a fund-raiser for the Lance Armstrong Foundation.