There are a total of six pro cyclists at the 2007 Tour de Georgia this year with roots in the Pacific Northwest.
I wrote about Portland's Doug Ollerenshaw and North Bend's Tom Peterson (Two cyclists from Northwest in Tour de Georgia) on Monday. When a reader emailed that there was at least one more, I thought I'd better check the rosters as closely as I could and came up with four more cyclists:
Washington residents Ian McKissick of Mulkiteo and Jonathan Patrick McCarty of North Bend, Omer Kem of Salem, Oregon, and Phil Zajicek, whose hometown is Eugene, Oregon.
The cyclist first brought to my attention was McKissick, left, 26, a first year pro with the BMC Racing Team. He's already competed in the 2007 Tour of California.
Last year he rode on the Seattle-based Recycled Cycles Team where he scored a number of firsts:
1st National Time Trial Cat 1/2 Men; 1st overall, 1st individual time trial at Elkorn; and 1st individual time trials at State Hill Climb, State Omnium and San Dimas. He also finished 4th overall at the Mt. Hood stage race.
Another Washington resident is McCarty, right. He lives in North Bend, just like his Team Slipstream teammate Tom Peterson.
McCarty started riding right out of high school for the U23 US National Team in Europe and was picked up in 2004 with the US Postal Service team, staying on in 2005 with Discovery Channel. He rode with Phonak until that team disbanded last year.
At 20, he already has several years of ProTour experience, such as riding in support of Jose Gutierrez who finished second overall in last year's Giro d'Italia.
Kem, left, is a member of the Priority Health Cycling Team and is the defending Oregon state road champion.
During his cycling career, the 24-year-old has first place finishes at the Eugene Hill Climb in 2004, as well as top 10s in Dinuba Criterium, Oregon State Criterium Championships, Cantua Creek Race, Eugene Time Trial, Columbia Plateau Stage Race and Cat 2 Tour of Gila.
Last year, he competed for Team Monex, and in 2004-2005 for Subway Pro Cycling. You can check out more from Kem at his blog, Life, where he tells how his experiences at the recent US Open in Virginia.
Zajicek, right, lists his hometown as Eugene, Oregon, although the 27-year-old cyclist now makes his home in Tucson.
This is his third trip to the Tour de Georgia, competing there before in 2003 and 2006.
A member of Navigators Insurance since 2004, last year was considered his breakout year with an overall win at the La Vuelta de Bisbee, as well as finishing second overall at the Mt. Hood Classic and third overall at the Longsjo Classic.
Zajicek previously rode with Saturn, Mercury, Kortrijk Groening Spurters and Colorado Cyclist.
Did I miss anyone else? It's entirely likely. Please leave a comment and I'll check it out. All these guys deserve their due, and we wish them lots of luck down in the Peach State.
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