The 2008 UCI Road World Championships continued on Saturday with the elite women’s road race as Amber Neben was the top U.S. finisher in 22nd place. Neben crossed the finish line as part of a 30-woman pack that was attempting to close the gap to a lead group of five riders which materialized on the final lap. Kristin Armstrong finished 39th after spending the entire day at the front of an early-race breakaway and Kori Seehafer placed 67th. The women conclude the world championships with one medal - Neben’s gold in the individual time trial on Wednesday.

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Day four of the 2008 UCI Road World Championships featured the 173-kilometer men’s U23 road race as Tejay Van Garderen provided the U.S. National Team with its top performance of the day, finishing 25th our ot the 167 riders who took the start. Van Garderen, a future pro who splits his time with the Rabobank farm system and the USA Cycling National Development Team, was one of three Americans to finish amongst the remains of the main peloton, 33 seconds behind the six-man lead breakaway and winner Fabio Andres Duarte Arevalo of Colombia.

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The United States Cycling Team added a second medal to its overall tally at the 2008 UCI Road World Championships when David Zabriskie finished third in the elite men’s time trial on Thursday. Zabriskie finished 52 seconds off the pace of world champion Bert Grabsch of Germany to add a bronze medal to the gold that Amber Neben won in the women’s race on Wednesday. Levi Leipheimer finished just off the podium in fourth place, 13 seconds behind Zabriskie.

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The 2008 UCI Road World Championships began with the U23 time trial on Tuesday as Peter Stetina placed sixth to give the U.S. its best finish in the event since 2003. His performance equaled the best by an American in five years, dating back to Michael Creed’s sixth-place finish in Canada in 2003. The last time an American placed higher than sixth was in 2001 when Danny Pate won the world title. Next up for the U.S. Team is the elite women’s time trial which will feature Olympic gold medalist and 2006 world champion Kristin Armstrong, Christine Thorburn and Amber Neben.

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Registration is now open for UCI Menandrsquo;s Continental and UCI Womenandrsquo;s Road teams. All teams wishing to register must contact USA Cycling before October 31. All UCI documents and contracts must be submitted to USA Cycling before November 5. New teams for 2009 should immediately contact USA Cyclingandrsquo;s Technical Director Shawn Farrell. Please be aware that the UCI has moved the 2009 deadlines ahead one month.

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Jacob Rathe finished 11th overall at the 2.1-rated junior Giro di Basilicata. Rathe used a fourth-place finish in the 107-kilometer stage one and a second-place finish in the 119-kilometer third and final stage to secure 11th place in the G.C. One of six USA Cycling Junior National Team riders to start the premier Italian contest, Rathe finished 11 seconds behind overall winner Alberto Petito of Italy. Nathan Brown gave the Americans another top 10 stage finish with a sixth-place result on the opening day of the three-stage affair. Austin Arguello finished 31st overall, 9:51 back, while Ian Boswell and A.J. Meyer finished 35th and 36th respectively in the G.C.

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Forty events from North Carolina to Washington State will mark this yearandrsquo;s USA Cycling Cyclo-Cross National Racing Calendar which kicks off on September 20. Excluding the USA Cycling Cyclo-cross National Championships set for Kansas City, Dec. 11-14, all of these events are a part of the UCI Cyclo-Cross Calendar, once again giving the United States more internationally-sanctioned cyclo-cross races than any other nation for the 2008-09 season.

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British Cycling, the sport’s national governing body, has confirmed that it will look to enter a British team in the 2010 Tour de France, according to UK newspaper, The Guardian.

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With his overall victory at the Tour of Missouri last weekend, Christian Vande Velde won the season-long USA Cycling Professional Tour with a total of 272 points over runner up and defending champion Levi Leipheimer, who finished the season with 244. Vande Velde’s overall title was also the product of a stage win in Missouri, plus third place finishes at the Tour of California and the USA Cycling Professional Time Trial National Championships. Also, Vande Velde’s Garmin-Chipotle squad won the team title over Team Columbia, 711-513.

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USA Cycling announced today the team that will represent the United States at the 2008 UCI Road World Championships, Sept. 23-28 in Varese, Italy. Seventeen athletes will compete in Elite and U23 categories as part of a squad that is defined by experience on the women’s side and youth on the men’s. Headlining the team is Olympic gold medalist Kristin Armstrong who looks to join Greg LeMond as the only four-time medalist at the road world championships in U.S. cycling history.

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