Ahead of the 2022 UCI Road World Championships, Cyclingnews is taking a deep dive into the key teams for the elite road races. Here, we put the USA team under the microscope.
History
The United States of America have not won an elite road race title in the more modern-era of professional cycling. Greg LeMond was the first elite men’s winner from the country in 1983 when the race was held in Switzerland. The three-time Tour de France winner claimed the rainbow jersey again in 1989 in France. Coincidentally, LeMond was also the country’s first male road world title winner when he became junior world champion in 1979. Lance Armstrong is still the 1993 world champion thanks to the statute of limitations.
The country’s women have been more prolific, with Audrey McElmury becoming the USA’s first road world champion in 1969 in Brno, Czechoslovakia. Beth Heiden won the title in 1980. The most recent podium finisher was Megan Guarnier in 2015.
USA Cycling have had a strong lineup in the development pipeline, with Quinn Simmons and Megan Jastrab winning the junior titles in 2019 and Kaia Schmid claiming silver in last year’s junior race.
Line-ups
Women elite
- Veronica Ewers (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB)
- Kristin Faulkner (BikeExchange-Jayco)
- Heidi Franz (InstaFund Racing)
- Emma Langley (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB)
- Skylar Schneider (L39ION of Los Angeles)
- Lauren Stephens (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB)
- Leah Thomas (Trek-Segafredo)
Men elite
- Scott McGill (Wildlife Generation)
- Kyle Murphy (Human Powered Health)
- Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost)
- Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers)
- Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz)
Key riders
Men
Neilson Powless, who was four seconds away from leading the Tour de France this summer, was fourth on two stages and later on the podium at the Maryland Cycling Classic, is the most likely leader for the men’s team. He was fifth in last year’s Worlds, making the winning move when riders like Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert didn’t. He showed his class with a victory in the Clasica San Sebastian last year.
Powless might have shared leadership with Magnus Sheffield after the 20-year-old won the Brabantse Pijl in the spring, but a crash in the time trial and the entire team missing the Mixed Relay because of it puts a question mark on the Ineos rider for the road race.
Lawson Craddock was to be the third WorldTour rider but missed his flight because of visa issues. Quality riders like Quinn Simmons, Brandon…
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