U.S. pro road nationals

Megan Guarnier defends her national road race championship title with a sprint victory in Winston-Salem

The latest diary by RadioShack's Ben King, the 2010 U.S. pro road race champion. King's teammate, Matthew Busche, won the 2011 title on Monday.

U.S. pro time trial bikes used by Zabriskie, Phinney and Mumford in Greenville

There’s perhaps no better indication of an athlete’s strength and form than time-trial performances. There were three major TTs this past weekend, and they were all won by riders from teams in the Anglo Empire: Brad Wiggins of Team Sky at Germany’s Tour of Bavaria; David Millar of Garmin-Cervélo at the Giro d’Italia; and Dave Zabriskie, also of Garmin, at the U.S. national TT championship.

Check out Brian Holcombe's author page.

GREENVILLE, South Carolina (VN) – Jeremy Powers was recovering Monday evening from injuries sustained in a crash early in the U.S. pro road championships. The Jelly Belly-Kenda rider was thought to have broken ribs in a crash that caught him from behind.

GREENVILLE, South Carolina (VN) — Three-time U.S. road champion George Hincapie wanted hard racing Monday. His BMC Racing teammates gave him just that at the USA Cycling Professional National Championships and they weren’t alone.

• 1. Matthew Busche, Team RadioShack, in 4.28:02
• 2. George Hincapie, BMC Racing Team, in
• 3. Ted King, Liquigas-Cannondale, in 4.28:04
• 4. Tejay Van Garderen, HTC-Highroad, in 4.28:09
• 5. Kyle Wamsley, Bissell Cycling, in 4.29:31

• 1. Matthew Busche, Team RadioShack, in 4.28:02
• 2. George Hincapie, BMC Racing Team, in
• 3. Ted King, Liquigas-Cannondale, in 4.28:04
• 4. Tejay Van Garderen, HTC-Highroad, in 4.28:09
• 5. Kyle Wamsley, Bissell Cycling, in 4.29:31

Check out Brian Holcombe's author page.

David Zabriskie on course during the 2011 USA Cycling pro time trial.

Casey B. Gibson was snapping away in South Carolina during the USA Cycling pro time-trial championships.

The 20-year-old BMC Racing neo-pro, who could manage only seventh place in the race against the clock, said he struggled to recover from the hardest race of his life and is tired of talking about the problems that have marked much of his rookie season.

Results

• 1. David Zabriskie, Team Garmin-Cervélo, 40:23.5
• 2. Tom Zirbel, Jamis-Sutter Home, 40:54.8
• 3. Matthew Busche, Team RadioShack, 41:22.1
• 4. Brent Bookwalter, BMC Racing Team, 41:22.2
• 5. Benjamin King, Team RadioShack, 41:42.6

Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Cervélo) won the individual time trial on Saturday at the USA Cycling pro road championships in Greenville, South Carolina.

GREENVILLE, South Carolina (VN) - Scott Zwizanski is a late scratch for the time trial at the U.S. Professional National Championships in Greenville, South Carolina.

Tom Zirbel's Jamis Xenith T2 time trial machine

The headline event in the States this weekend is the USA Cycling Professional National Championships in Greenville, South Carolina. Not to be lost in the shadows, however, are the oldest race on the National Racing Calendar, the Tour of Somerville, the 40th Iron Horse Bicycle Classic and the final stop on the Nature Valley Pro Ride.

This weekend brings in the U.S. Professional National Championships in Greenville, South Carolina, and the story is as much who will be there as who won’t.

• Jesse Anthony, Kelly Benefit Strategies-OptumHealth, Beverly, MA
• Kai Applequist, Team Exergy, Boise, ID
• Andrew Bajadali, Kelly Benefit Strategies-OptumHealth, Boulder, CO
• Andrew Baker, Bissell Pro Cycling Team, Easley, SC
• Christopher Baldwin, Bissell Pro Cycling Team, Boulder, CO

Most riders who have won the U.S. road race championship did so after racing on European-based pro teams. At age 21, Ben King hasn’t yet started that part of his career officially, but he’s looking forward to suiting up for races in his red, white and blue RadioShack jersey in Mallorca next year. VeloNews caught up with King at his parents’ house in Virginia.

• 1. Benjamin KING, Trek-Livestrong, in 4:44:56.9
• 2. Alex CANDELARIO, Kelly Benefit Strategies, in 4:46:30.9
• 3. Kiel REIJNEN, Jelly Belly Presented By Kenda, in 4:46:31.0
• 4. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack, in 4:46:31.2
• 5. George HINCAPIE, BMC, in 4:46:31.3

The Trek-Livestrong rider adds a pro road title to the two U23 national titles he's earned this year.

Mid-race report: Chris Horner confident of team's chances

UPDATED AND CORRECTED: A rider expected to start Sunday's professional road race championships was charged with a non-analytical doping violation, but was ruled not guilty by an arbitration panel, his lawyer says.

Final start list for Sunday's U.S. professional road race championships in Greenville, South Carolina.

• 1. Taylor Phinney, Trek Livestrong U23 41:02.5
• 2. Levi Leipheimer, Team RadioShack, 41:02.7
• 3. Bernard Van Ulden, Jelly Belly, 42:15.0
• 4. Carter Jones, Jelly Belly, 42:17.2
• 5. Matthew Busche, Team RadioShack, 43:20.6

Taylor Phinney is the favorite for a U23 world title, but he's now qualified to race as an elite. The young star is still pondering ...

UPDATED: Taylor Phinney edges Levi Leipheimer for the stars-and-stripes.

Strong U.S. Pro and `cross rosters headline this week as Barrows, Howe duke it out in Dallas for USA Crits title

Road and time trial events to follow Tour of California

The defending champions are back, but will face a much tougher domestic field this year in Pennsylvania

The Gateway Cup in St. Louis, the Green Mountain Stage Race in Vermont and the Steamboat Springs Stage Race in Colorado highlight the Labor Day weekend.

A crash in Thursday second stage of the Tour of Utah has BMC's George Hincapie worried he won't be able to defend his pro road title in his hometown next month.

The 2010 professional road championships are once again being held in Greenville, South Carolina, the home of the reigning national road champ, George Hincapie.

Tom Zirbel speaks with Brian Holcombe after announcing that he had tested positive for dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) following the USA Cycling Professional Individual Time Trial Championships.

Bissell's Tom Zirbel confirms that his "A" sample from the USA Cycling Professional Individual Time Trial Championships came back positive for dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA).

George Hincapie (Columbia-HTC) rode through a wall of sound as he outsprinted Andrew Bajadali (Kelly Benefit Strategies) to win the road race Sunday at the USA Cycling Professional National Championships in his adopted hometown of Greenville, South Carolina. The pair overtook Jeff Louder (BMC Racing Team), who attacked an elite group of seven riders in the final lap of the 185km race, which featured four trips over Paris Mountain.

Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Slipstream) reaffirmed his position atop the U.S. time trial field Saturday, as he won his fourth consecutive national championship by nearly one minute on a 20.7-mile course in Greenville, South Carolina. Zabriskie blazed the winding Greenville time trial course Saturday in a time of 39:37, 1:02 faster than his winning time on the same course in 2008.

Tyler Hamilton (Rock Racing) scored one of the biggest wins of his long career — and the biggest since returning from a two-year doping suspension — on Sunday at the U.S. professional road race championships in Greenville, South Carolina. The 37-year-old Hamilton outsprinted his late-race breakaway companion, 24-year-old Blake Caldwell (Garmin-Chipotle), winning a photo finish by less than a tire’s width after 115 miles of racing.

On the eve of the USPRO Road Race Championships, Garmin-Chipotle showed it intended to dominate the championship weekend in Greenville, South Carolina, taking four of the top five spots in the time trial, led by David Zabriskie. Only Bissell’s Tom Zirbel kept Garmin from taking the entire podium and then some, with a brilliant second place ride, coming in five seconds behind a clean-shaven Zabriskie, who captured his third straight USPRO time trial jersey.

Discovery Channel went one-two on Sunday at the Greenville Hospital System USA Cycling Professional Road Race Championships in Greenville, South Carolina, with Levi Leipheimer soloing to victory by more than a minute over defending champion George Hincapie with Neil Shirley (Jittery Joe’s) third.

This year hasn’t been stellar, results-wise, for Team CSC’s David Zabriskie. But his second consecutive time-trial win at the 2007 USA Cycling Professional Championships on Saturday may have brightened things up a bit.

To the delight of a partisan hometown crowd, Discovery Channel’s George Hincapie won the first-ever all-American national road championship in Greenville, South Carolina, Sunday, crossing the finish line alone in front of a decimated field that produced only 31 finishers. Fellow ProTour rider Levi Leipheimer of Gerolsteiner finished second, 16 seconds behind Hincapie, with TIAA-CREF’s Danny Pate rounding out the podium, 1:20 off the winning pace. It was Hincapie’s second national road championship, following a win in Philadelphia in 1998.

When 2005 national time-trial champion Chris Baldwin thinks back on his attempt to defend his title Friday in Greenville, South Carolina, he’s going to have to either laugh or cry.