New race leader, Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Barracuda) takes the spoils on the podium
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Danielson, Van Garderen support Zabriskie, Phinney makes his case
In 10 days, USA Cycling will announce its final selections for its 2012 Olympic Games road teams, and competing for the country’s sole individual time trial spot is US time trial champion David Zabriskie (Garmin-Barracuda) and BMC’s Taylor Phinney. With Beijing bronze medalist Levi Leipheimer still recovering from a leg injury, Zabriskie and Phinney can make equally strong cases for their selection as no rider has met the automatic selection criteria.
Zabriskie is a five-time national champion who has won time trials in the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France, and he has taken the silver medal in the world championships. Phinney is a former U23 world time trial champion, elite world individual pursuit champion with the Giro d’Italia prologue win fresh in his palmares.
Speaking after the Tour of California where he dominated the Bakersfield time trial, Zabriskie said he was motivated to perform in order to gain an Olympic bid, and said the selection committee should “take who [they] think is the best. It’s pretty simple.”
But Phinney is also dreaming of watching the official counting the seconds down for him on the start ramp in London, and made his case for his selection to Cyclingnews.
“I’m a big fan of Dave, am a good friend of his, and have a huge amount of respect for him. I’ve grown up watching him race, but I’d be stupid not to make a case for myself.
“According to the automatic selection criteria for Olympic time trial, we had to place in the top three in a Grand Tour time trial over 40km [in length]. The only result of that kind in the last year and a half is my fifth place in the Vuelta, unfortunately I was 11 seconds off of third place.”
Zabriskie was given the support of two other competitors for the Olympic berth: his teammate Tom Danielson and Phinney’s teammate Tejay Van Garderen.
“I think
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