Saturday, August 29, 2009

Zabriskie defends title with convincing win


David Zabriskie (Garmin-Slipstream) won his fourth consecutive US professional time trial championship on Saturday, stopping the clock in 39:37 for the 33.4-kilometre course. Last year's runner-up, Tom Zirbel (Bissell Pro Cycling), duplicated his silver medal performance, finishing 44 seconds behind Zabriskie. Kelly Benefit Strategies' Scott Zwizanski rounded out the podium, crossing the finish line 1:41 behind Zabriskie.

For the second straight year, Greenville, South Carolina's Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research hosted the championship event, with riders facing a technical but flat 11.1-kilometre circuit covered three times. While Zabriskie bested Zirbel by a slim five-second margin in 2008, the Garmin-Slipstream time trial ace won comfortably this year, putting 29 seconds into Zirbel after only one lap. Zabriskie increased his lead over Zirbel for the following two laps to record a time 1:02 faster than last year's winning effort.

Zwizanski, winner of time trials in both the Vuelta Ciclista del Uruguay and Tour de Beauce on his way to general classification wins in each, held second place after the first lap. Zirbel, however, erased his eight-second first lap deficit and led Zwizanski by 27 seconds after the second lap, ultimately besting the Kelly Benefit Strategies rider by 57 seconds.

1 David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin-Slipstream 0:39:37
2 Tom Zirbel (USA) Bissell Pro Cycling 0:00:44
3 Scott Zwizanski (USA) Kelly Benefit Strategies 0:01:41

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