September 1, 2006 (Travelers Rest, SC) – With a lot of talent and a little luck, time trial specialist David Zabriskie (Team CSC) captured the first-ever national title at the USA Cycling Professional Individual Time Trial Championships, presented by The Cliffs. The 20.15-mile event was held today outside Greenville, S.C., with the start at The Cliffs at Mountain Park and the finish at The Cliffs Valley, taking the field of 54 pro riders on an undulating and scenic course across the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The race was decided within the final mile of the course when 2005 Elite Time Trial National Champion Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United Professional Cycling Team) crashed off the course on a sharp 90-degree right hand turn headed toward the finish line at The Cliffs Valley. As a result, Baldwin, who was wearing his Stars and Stripes jersey, finished 32-seconds behind Zabriskie for second place. The third spot on the podium was captured by Iowa native, Jason McCartney (Discovery Channel Professional Cycling Team), who represented the U.S. at the 2004 Olympic Games.

Tropical Storm Ernesto did not cause any complications, as athletes and race fans experienced only cloudy and humid conditions. With weather not factoring in to his crash, Baldwin said he could not blame anyone except himself.

“It’s pretty ironic, I’m usually the guy who knows every inch of the course and am pretty meticulous about pre-riding. I only rode it once, the day before. At 20 miles per hour is totally different than coming into it hot at 40 miles per hour, with a narrow tire and a disc (wheel),” Baldwin commented at the post-race press conference. Baldwin is a two-time winner of the Elite Men’s National Time Trial Championship.

Zabriskie entered the race as one of the favorites, having won two time trials this year at the prominent Dauphine Libere stage race in France. He is also the first American to have won a stage in all three Grand Tours — Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana. Zabriskie was awarded the Stars and Stripes Jersey, and as a national champion, will be permitted to wear this jersey for the next year at any time trial event in which he competes.

“I rode the course once yesterday; it turned out to be a lot harder today than I was expecting it to be. I knew the course was short, and I knew it would really be an intense effort. The course was really nice,” Zabriskie said about the heavily wooded and rolling time trial route. “When I went through the time check, I believed that I was 20 seconds ahead (of the field). And to me that wasn’t enough time to be ahead, in my mind. I told the guys (following in the team car) to honk the horn “¦ if it was close. And they started honking on one of the climbs (in Cliffs Valley). I really started digging as deep as I could go. When I started going up the hills they began honking a lot.”

One of the local favorites, Craig Lewis (Team TIAA-CREF), who has won two Under-23 national championships already this year (criterium and road race), finished 17th in the time trial today, 2’29″ behind Zabriskie. George Hincapie (Discovery Channel Professional Cycling Team), who also lives in Greenville, did not compete in the Individual Time Trial Championship today. He will race Sunday in the USA Cycling Professional Road Race Championship, presented by Charter Communications, and will be joined in the field by fellow ProTour rider Levi Leipheimer (Team Gerolsteiner).

“I felt good. It’s kind of humid out here; I didn’t want to push it too much for Sunday because that’s my main goal. I’m happy with my result. I caught a lot of people. I’m confident for Sunday (the Road Race),” Lewis said after his ride.

A.J. Smith, the honorary member of the Discovery Channel Professional Cycling team who earned a spot in the time trial by winning the Race To Replace event in Indianapolis, finished with a time of 47’42″.

Sunday, September 3 is the USA Cycling Professional Road Race Championship, presented by Charter Communications. Most of the cyclists from today’s Championship will compete again Sunday, where a field of 150 pro cyclists is expected to compete for the Stars and Stripes jersey. The Road Race Championship begins at 12:30 p.m. in downtown Greenville, S.C. and is expected to finish between 4:45 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Maps and event details are provided here and at www.usacyclingchampionships.com.

For complete final results click here.

Results

Individual Time Trial, 32.4km
 
1 Dave Zabriskie (CSC) 41.49.69 (46.48kph)
2 Chris Baldwin (Toyota United) 0.31.87
3 Jason Mccartney (Discovery Channel) 0.52.30
4 Mike Friedman (TIAA Cref) 1.08.46
5 Bernard Vanulden (Navigators Insurance) 1.25.37
6 Danny Pate (TIAA Cref) 1.29.07
7 Tom Abb Zirbel (Priority Health) 1.29.58
8 Jeff Louder (Health Net / Maxxis) 1.37.62
9 Chris Wherry (Toyota United) 1.47.98
10 Mike Creed (TIAA Cref) 2.12.87