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USPRO Cycling Championship moves to Greenville


gs3

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Seriously? Only 53 riders took part in the individual time trial/Race for Truth today?

http://www.usacyclingchampionships.com/prd...ultsITT9-1F.pdf

That's it!?!?!? :shok:

Time trials are a very specialized discipline. Most of the people licensed/eligible to compete in the TT would not have a realistic chance to win so their energy is better spent training for the road race on Sunday.

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For those of you that weren't able to make it out today to watch the time trial, Greenville did an excellent, professional job. Everything went off very well and we should be very proud. I hope they do as well on Sunday.

Just a link to info on the win for interested parties:

Zabriskie wins

And here's a snap from the awards. That's Melanie Hincapie as podium girl.

DSCF2043.jpg

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Time trials are a very specialized discipline. Most of the people licensed/eligible to compete in the TT would not have a realistic chance to win so their energy is better spent training for the road race on Sunday.

Yes, I know. The problem is that I keep forgetting that this is the fist year where it's a US-Only field, so the number of riders is considerably fewer than in past years, I suspect.

For those of you that weren't able to make it out today to watch the time trial, Greenville did an excellent, professional job. Everything went off very well and we should be very proud. I hope they do as well on Sunday.

Just a link to info on the win for interested parties:

Zabriskie wins

And here's a snap from the awards. That's Melanie Hincapie as podium girl.

DSCF2043.jpg

Great photo, DT-Greenville! I wish I could have been there to take it all in, but I'm not going to miss the road race on Sunday.

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Cool photos, Skyliner! I suspect the larger crowds will be downtown tomorrow and all along the race route. I'm going to *try* to set up in three different locations on the route during the race...we'll see how that goes...I may end up sticking to one if traffic and parking are issues.

Here's a cool photo of the 2006 USA Cycling Pro Individual Time Trial Champion, Dave Zabriskie, taken with about 3K left to go on Friday:

231446363_4c82ac16f2_b.jpg

Credit for this Photo goes to Frank Steele.

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Here are a few for starters.

The peloton is arriving at the start/finish line for the fourth of five times:

USACyclingChampionship2006_.jpg

A frame grab from my video of George's victory pose just before crossing the finish line:

USACycling_06.jpg

The crowd in downtown was massive today!

USACycling_07b.jpg

Another frame grab from my video of Hincapie's post-race victory celebration:

USACycling_08.jpg

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Here are some of my 545 photos from today's running of the 2006 USA Cycling Professional Champioship Road Race in Greenville.

Today's race saw 102 of the nation's top professional cyclists race 121 miles from Downtown Greenville to Travelers Rest, ascend over 1000 feet up Altamonte Road to the crest of Paris Mountain, descend back down the other side and on back into Downtown Greenville ... FIVE TIMES, followed by four circuit laps through the streets of Downtown Greenville before a final finish at the Start/Finish gate at the intersection of Broad Street and South Main Street.

Out of the 102 cyclists that began the race, only 31 actually finished it. It was that grueling. Greenville's own George Hincapie won the race and took home the Stars and Stripes Jersey with a time of 4 hours, 47 minutes, 15 seconds. Levi Leipheimer finished second, 16 seconds behind George. Danny Pate came in third, a full 1 minute, 20 seconds behind the winner. The 2005 Road Race Champion, Chris Wherry, finished fifth.

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The 2006 Individual Time Trial Champion, David Zabriskie:

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The 2006 Road Race Champion (today's race), George Hincapie:

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Marc Anderson (61) and Evan Elken (62) from the Jittery Joe's Coffee Racing Team:

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A couple of shots from the Cycling Expo Area along South Main Street:

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The lead pack at the end of the second lap finds the 2005 Champion, Chris Wherry (1), the eventual 2006 Champion, George Hincapie (211), and Andrew Bajadali (52) in the lead:

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Fans at the Start/Finish Line were able to watch the race on a giant screen...in this shot, Levi Leipheimer (221) was in the lead, but was in some distress because he over-shot his feed back in the Feed Zone earlier in the lap so he was slowing down to get a replacement meal:

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Some shots from Lap 3:

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And, of course, bringing up the rear....the broom wagon:

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And chasing it all, the support crews:

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George had his fair share of fans in the hometown crowd:

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Congratulations to George Hincapie and David Zabriskie!!

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Those are fantastic photos, RT!!! Thanks for posting them here. I think the overall impact of the championships would be very hard to estimate, since downtown and surrounding areas were definitely busier than normal, and many of these people were visiting Greenville for the first time. I heard several people giving praise to the city for its beauty and vibrancy. One person yesterday said Main Street was like a different world. At least a few of the people interviewed by the announcer at the Start/Finish Line said that they have fallen in love with Greenville and are moving here. Here is a link to one of them.

I wonder how many members or guest of UP were there? ;)

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What really amazes me about today's race is just how Paris Mountain kicked their butts. Out of a field of 102 cyclists, only 31 finished the race. I don't follow the sport very closely, but that seems like incredible attrition to me.

That was amazing attrition. The race was fast from the start which is exactly what the leaders wanted. Many of the pros who race the domestic circuit are used to racing criteriums all season and just couldn't hang on. They are great athletes, but five times fast over Paris mountain did them in. Even on the first lap nearly half the field didn't make the 5 minute cutoff. What a great race weekend though. I am still so excited that I can barely type.

Oh yeah, speaking of Paris mountain kicking butts, I was hurting on that climb during the P3 ride. I ride Altamont often, but after 50 miles in Northern Greenville county on Saturday, my time was considerably slower than normal. I can't imagine doing that climb 5 times over the course of 120 very fast miles. Those guys really are incredible.

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That was amazing attrition. The race was fast from the start which is exactly what the leaders wanted. Many of the pros who race the domestic circuit are used to racing criteriums all season and just couldn't hang on. They are great athletes, but five times fast over Paris mountain did them in. Even on the first lap nearly half the field didn't make the 5 minute cutoff. What a great race weekend though. I am still so excited that I can barely type.

Oh yeah, speaking of Paris mountain kicking butts, I was hurting on that climb during the P3 ride. I ride Altamont often, but after 50 miles in Northern Greenville county on Saturday, my time was considerably slower than normal. I can't imagine doing that climb 5 times over the course of 120 very fast miles. Those guys really are incredible.

What absolutely blows my mind about the climb up Altamont Road is that ascent on the first lap was just over 9 minutes and then the second lap was something like 8 minutes 30-something seconds. :w00t:

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As anyone heard if there has been any critisism of Hincapies win? That maybe he had an unfair advantage becuase he trains on that route?

The only criticism I have heard is that Leipheimer was helping him too much and not really riding for himself since he will be a Discovery rider next season. Here is an example of it:

http://www.tdfblog.com/2006/09/leipheimer_and_.html

As we watched the race, I mentioned to my wife that some people would be saying that. Though I expected to hear it, I disagree with the implication. Had it come down to a sprint finish, George is the faster sprinter of the top contenders. I didn't expect Leipheimer to attack in the end, but I don't believe at all that he gave George the win. In my mind, George simply won this race because he deserved it. The fact that he worked with riders from other teams is irrelevant to me. Keep in mind that Leipheimer and Zabriskie were the only riders from their respective teams. These guys had to work together to compete with the domestic teams that had many riders in this race.

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I uploaded a small, highly-compressed 3-minute audio clip from my video footage of the end of the race near the finish line. It was great to have play-by-play and great video shots on the jumbo screen as well. :thumbsup:

You can save this file and any others I add to the collection:

2006 USA Pro Cycling Championships - Greenville, SC

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