We'll be seeing Dave Zabriskie (left) and Levi Leipheimer (right) in the stars and stripes when they take to the cycling peloton next year.
Both won at the USA Cycling Pro Championships in Greenville, South Carolina, over the weekend. As national champions, each gets to festoon their regular bicycle team jersey with the red, white and blue in 2008.
Zabriskie, winner of the individual time trial for the second year in a row, will be bicycling for the up-and-coming US-based Team Slipstream/Chipotle. Leipheimer, who won the road championship from Discovery teammate George Hincapie, has yet to sign a contract with another team for next year.
This is the second year that the Nationals have been held in Greenville. Organizers say the crowds on Saturday and Sunday numbered about 85,000, about 50% more than last year.
Time trial
As a matter of fact, Zabriskie beat two future teammates to win race over the 18.7-mile course on Saturday. He finished 1 second ahead of Danny Pate and 8 seconds ahead of Timothy Duggan.
Other competitors in the ITT included Bobby Julich, Tyler Hamilton and Chris Baldwin.
Road
Leipheimer beat defending road national champion Hincapie by 1:11 over the 110-mile course around Greenville, Hincapie's hometown. It's another highlight for the Santa Rosa, California, bicycle racer who won the Tour of California and finished third in the Tour de France.
Once again, Paris Mountain played a major part in the victory, as this time Leipheimer put himself in the lead group. On the final climb up the mountain, Leipheimer dropped his last companion — Andrew Bajadali of Jelly Belly — and road away to the finish on his own.
In addition to Hincapie, others among the top finishers included Freddie Rodriguez (Predictor-Lotto), Julich (Team CSC), Tyler Hamilton and Jonathan McCarty (Discovery).
Missing
Three top American cyclists were missing from the competition this weekend. Chris Horner (Team CSC), Jason McCartney (Discovery) and Christian Vande Velde (Team CSC) are racing at the Vuelta a Espana this month. Tom Danielson (Discovery) also went to the Vuelta, but crashed out with a broken collarbone in the first stage on Saturday.
Leipheimer, Hincapie and many of the others in the national championships are staying stateside to compete at the Tour of Missouri on Sept. 11-16.
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