Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia) and Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) might be the overwhelming favourites for the elite men’s rainbow jersey at the UCI Road World Championships, but USA Cycling has put together a diverse team of talent including Olympic gold medalist Kristen Faulkner with real chances to win titles in other fields.
History
The United States has a very short list of elite men’s world champions, with Greg LeMond winning two – the first in 1983 when he soloed to victory in Altenrhein, Switzerland, and a second in 1989 in Chambéry, France. He also was second in 1982 and 1985.
Lance Armstrong is the last men’s world champion – he got to keep the 1993 title he won in Copenhagen despite having the majority of his record erased when he was banned for life by USADA for doping in 2012.
Two US women have won world titles in the road race: Audrey McElmury (1969) and Beth Heiden (1980). The country has landed on the podium in nine other editions, most recently with Megan Guarnier taking bronze in 2015 in Richmond, Virginia.
Chloe Dygert won the individual time trial world title in 2023 and 2019, following on the success of Amber Neben (world champion in 2016 and 2008), Kristen Armstrong (2009, 2006), Mari Holden (2000), and Karen Brems (1994).
Taylor Phinney was the last American to stand on the podium at Worlds in the time trial in 2012. Dave Zabriskie is the only other man from the USA to earn a medal, taking bronze in 2008 and silver in 2006.
Lineups
Elite Men: Matteo Jorgenson, Brandon McNulty, Neilson Powless, Riley Sheehan, Magnus Sheffield, Quinn Simmons, Kevin Vermaerke, Larry Warbasse
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Elite Women: Chloe Dygert, Ruth Edwards, Emily Ehrlich, Kristen Faulkner, Heidi Franz, Amber Neben (TT only), Lauren Stephens
U23 Men: AJ August, Gavin Hlady, Cole Kessler, Artem Shmidt, Colby Simmons
U23 Women (combined with elites): None
Junior Men: Gray Barnett, Ashlin Barry, Peyton Burckel, Braden Reitz, Noah Streif
Junior Women: Lidia Cusack, Helena Jones, Vida Lopez de San Roman, Alyssa Sarkisov
Key Riders
USA Cycling have three former world champions in the team for the 2024 Worlds, with Chloé Dygert returning to defend her title in the elite women’s individual time trial. The 2019 and 2023 world champion had a sparse road campaign in the first half of the year. However, since winning the bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Paris, she raced the Tour de France Femmes, taking a close second to Demi Vollering in the stage 3 time trial and taking second in the Classic Lorient Agglomération in Plouay last month.
Dygert will have to contend with Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) who put in a stunning ride to win the European Championships, and Olympic champion Grace Brown (Australia) and silver medalist Anna Henderson (Great Britain). But considering Dygert crashed in Paris and still won bronze, she’s the USA’s best hope for a gold medal if she can have an incident-free time trial in Zurich.
Amber Neben (Time trial)
The two-time world champion only competes in a few select events, managing to get to the top of her game specifically for championship events. She was third behind Dygert and winner Taylor Knibb at the US National Championships and won the Pan-American championships time trial. Both of her world titles came in Olympic years so it would be unwise to discount the 49-year-old for a third in Zurich.
The World Championships begin this weekend with the elite individual time trials where Evenepoel and Primož Roglič (Slovenia) top the contenders list. Brandon McNulty is the USA’s top hope for the event, with Magnus Sheffield also taking part.
It might take a small miracle for the Americans to best Evenepoel, who added the Olympic gold medal to his rapidly growing palmares, but McNulty has a strong history in time trials, winning the Vuelta a España opener last month, the stage 3 time trial at the Tour de Romandie and stage 2 TT at the UAE Tour, all of which were significantly shorter than what the 46.1-kilometre route the men will face in Zurich.
In the road races, Pogačar has proven his impressive form at the GP de Montréal and looks unbeatable, but Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) has had a terrific season with a win in Dwars door Vlaanderen. He has a strong enough team of riders alongside him for the marquee race on September 29th to give the USA a chance at the medals.
The USA qualified the maximum team size for the men’s races for the first time since 2012, and have cards to play with McNulty, Neilson Powless, Magnus Sheffield and 2019 junior world champion Quinn Simmons while Riley Sheehan, Kevin Vermaerke and Larry Warbasse provide depth.
Faulkner heads into the women’s road race as Olympic champion and a strong backup team with great opportunities for tactics. Ruth Edwards and Lauren Stephens bring years of experience, Dygert contributes a powerful motor, while Heidi Franz and Emily Ehrlich will be on hand to control the early kilometres.
Faulkner had a stand-out season, winning the Omloop van het Hageland and two stages and second overall in the Trofeo Ponente in Rosa in the spring. A stage win in the Vuelta a España and the US national road race title followed before she stunned the world to win gold at the Olympics in Paris.
She skipped the usual tour of morning TV shows to race the Tour de France Femmes, her best place was fourth on stage 5.
The elite women’s race is combined with the under-23s, but USA Cycling opted not to bring any espoir women after Megan Jastrab declined her position.
Strengths
In the men’s race, the odds are against the US team, but one advantage they have is depth. Sean Quinn and Larry Warbasse are loyal workers, Vermaerke was third overall in the Arctic Race of Norway.
Sheffield was sixth in the Tour of Flanders and third overall in the Tour of Austria, Riley Sheehan won Paris-Tours as a staigiare last year and was on the podium of the Eschborn-Frankfurt in May, while McNulty won the GP Miguel Indurain in March.
The women’s team also has a wealth of experience to back up Faulkner or even set up Dygert, Edwards – winner of the Thüringen Ladies Tour – or even gravel national champion Stephens for a podium placing.
Weaknesses
The US lacks a rider of the calibre of Pogačar or Evenepoel, but then again, so do most countries. The riders have all shown individually they are eager to race aggressively but most of the riders are on different trade teams, so how effectively they can work as a team remains to be seen.
The view from the USA
Kristen Faulkner’s Olympic gold medal was the biggest accomplishment of a US rider in decades but it hardly made a splash in the mainstream media, and even fewer people will be paying attention to the team at the UCI Road World Championships.
Cycling fans in the US have had such a long period without a superstar to fill the void left by Lance Armstrong’s doping disgrace that they’ve embraced foreign personalities like Peter Sagan and now Tadej Pogačar.
With the Netflix Tour de France series drawing more eyes to the sport, the World Championships offer a chance for the riders to get the attention of their home audience, let’s hope they put on a good show.
