Elite women, U23 and juniors rosters named for 2014 Road Worlds

  
  


Colorado Springs, Colo. (September 3, 2014) -- USA Cycling has announced the rosters for the elite women, U23 men, and juniors men and women that will represent Team USA at the 2014 UCI Road World Championships. The world championships take place Sept. 21-28 in Ponferrada, Spain, and the U.S. looks to build off its two bronze medals and ten top-10 finishes of a year ago. The elite men's roster will be finalized in the coming week.
 
“We are excited about the team that was selected for the UCI World Championships in Ponferrada," said USA Cycling Vice President of Athletics Jim Miller. "These are good, well-balanced teams, but most importantly, when I look at the roster, these teams are made up of fighters. In order to compete in a single-day world championship race, you need a team of athletes that wants to do battle and doesn’t have the word 'quit' in its vocabulary."

Elite Women

The elite women's road race team is comprised of four automatic selections and three discretionary picks.
Kristin McGrath (l) and Evelyn Stevens set the tempo
Evelyn Stevens sets the tempo during the 2013 UCI Road World Championships. (photo by Casey B. Gibson)


Earning automatic nominations were Evelyn Stevens (Dennis, Mass./Specialized-lululemon), Shelley Olds (Gilroy, Calif./Ale-Cipollini), Megan Guarnier (Mountain View, Calif./Boels Dolmans Cycling Team) and Alison Powers (Pinecliffe, Colo./UnitedHealthcare). Stevens, 31, and Olds, 34, both qualified by being in the top 20 of the UCI individual rankings, sitting 13th and eighth, respectively. Stevens, who took fifth in the women's road race at last year's world championships, also won the overall title at the 2014 Thuringen Rundfahrt der Frauen. Olds placed third at the Boels Rental Ronde van Drenthe World Cup in March. Guarnier, 29, nabbed an automatic selection by virtue of her second place at the Pan American Continental  Road Championships, while Powers, 35, earned her spot by winning the elite women's road race at the 2014 Volkswagen USA Cycling Professional Road & Time Trial National Championships.
 
Rounding out the women's elite road race team as discretionary selections are international veterans Mara Abbott (Boulder, Colo./UnitedHealthcare), Carmen Small (Durango, Colo./Specialized-lululemon) and Lauren Hall (Dolores, Colo./Team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies). Abbott, 29, is considered one of the best climbers in the world and is a two-time winner of the Giro Rosa. Small, 34, who raced with Abbott, Guarnier and Stevens on last year's world championship team, is a natural leader with vast experience racing in Europe. Hall, 35, is another strong team rider who has proven she can also finish a race as evident by her win at this year's Gent-Wevelgem.

 
Carmen Small is all smiles after winning the bronze medal
Carmen Small is all smiles after winning the bronze medal in the time trial at the 2013 UCI Road World Championships. (photo by Casey B. Gibson)
The U.S. will also boast three automatic selections in the women's individual time trial in Ponferrada. Small qualifies after winning the bronze medal at last year's world championships, Powers earns her spot as U.S. national champion, and Stevens, fourth at worlds last year, notches a spot in the start house after winning the time trial at the 2014 Pan American Continental Road Championships.
 
U23 Men

The five-man U23 road race team is led by automatic nomination Tanner Putt (Park City, Utah/Bissell Development Team), the reigning U23 road race national champion. Putt, 22, is coming off two top-10 stage finishes at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and a 10th place at the Volta ao Alentejo where he also nabbed the Best Young Rider jersey.
 
Putt will be joined by four discretionary selections: Alexey Vermeulen (Pinckney, Mich./BMC Development Team), Robin Carpenter (Philadelphia, Pa./Hincapie Sportswear Development Team), Logan Owen (Bremerton, Wash./Bissell Development Team) and Tyler Williams (Shafter, Calif./BMC Development Team).
 
Vermeulen, 20, is a good climber who placed 20th at this year's Tour Alsace. Carpenter, 22, made a name for himself at last month's USA Pro Challenge when he won the 169-kilometer stage 2 from Aspen to Crested Butte. Owen, 19, is back after narrowly missing the podium at last year's U23 road race in Italy, where he placed fourth. Williams, 20, placed second at this year's U23 Paris-Roubaix.
 
Carpenter will pull double duty in the individual time trial where he will be joined by T.J. Eisenhart (Lehi, Utah/BMC Development Team). Eisenhart, 20, automatically qualified for the spot by winning the U23 national championship time trial in July. He also boasts a second place in the prologue time trial at the Giro Ciclistico della Valle d'Aosta Mont Blanc.
 
Juniors Men

The juniors men's squad includes four automatic nominations and a pair of discretionary selections. Zeke Mostov (San Francisco, Calif./Hagens Berman U23), William Barta (Boise, Idaho/BYRDS (Boise Young Rider Development Squad)), Adrien Costa (Los Altos, Calif./Hagens Berman U23) and Jonny Brown (Covington, Tenn./Hot Tubes Development Cycling Team, Inc.) each earned automatic nominations. Mostov, 18, placed second at the Tour de l'Abitibi Desjardins in July. Barta, 18, has third-place finishes this year at both the Course de la Paix Juniors and at the Tour du Pays de Vaud. Costa, 17, won the Tour du Pays de Vaud, and Brown, 17, is the U.S. national road race champion.

They will be joined by discretionary selections Philip O'Donnell (Suwanee, Ga./Hot Tubes Development Cycling Team, Inc.) and Jack Maddux (Fresno, Calif./Hot Tubes Development Cycling Team, Inc.). O'Donnell, 18, won the King of the Mountains jersey at the Tour du Pays de Vaud where he also placed fourth in the general classification. Maddux, 17, placed third on stage 1 of the Valley of the Sun Stage Race, was second at the Sea Otter Classic Circuit Race, and fourth at the Athens Orthopedic Clinic Twilight Criterium.

 
2013 juniors time trial bronze medalist Zeke Mostov
2013 juniors time trial bronze medalist Zeke Mostov. (photo by Casey B. Gibson)
Mostov and Costa will also contest the individual time trial for the juniors men as automatic selections. Mostov won the bronze medal at last year's world championships while Costa is the reigning national time trial champion.
 
Juniors Women

Janelle Cole
(Rockford, Mich./West Michigan Coast Riders), Emma White (Delanson, N.Y./Hot Tubes Development Cycling Team, Inc.) Madeleine Boutet (Anchorage, Alaska/TWENTY16 Pro Cycling) and Hannah Swan (Alpine, Calif./Strive Racing) comprise the juniors women's team. Cole, 18, is an automatic selection as junior national road race champion. White, 17, and Boutet, 17, finished behind Cole at the junior national road race in second and third place, respectively. Swan, 18, brings international experience to the young squad, having raced at last year's world championships in Italy where she finished 21st in the time trial and 47th in the road race. She will be competing solely in the road race at this year's event.
 
Cole and White will also compete in the juniors women's time trial. White was an automatic selection for the time trial after winning the 17-18 division at the national championships. Cole was runner up to White at the event. 
 
2014 UCI Road World Championships
Ponferrada, Spain
Sept. 21-28
 
Team USA Roster
 
Elite Women
Mara Abbott (Boulder, Colo./UnitedHealthcare)
*Megan Guarnier (Mountain View, Calif./Boels Dolmans Cycling Team)
Lauren Hall (Dolores, Colo./Team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies)
*Shelley Olds (Gilroy, Calif./Ale-Cipollini)
*Alison Powers (Pinecliffe, Colo./UnitedHealthcare) - competing in road race and time trial
*Carmen Small (Durango, Colo./Specialized-lululemon) - competing in road race and time trial
*Evelyn Stevens (Dennis, Mass./Specialized-lululemon) - competing in road race and time trial
 
U23 Men
Robin Carpenter (Philadelphia, Pa./Hincapie Sportswear Development Team) - competing in road race and time trial
*T.J. Eisenhart (Lehi, Utah/BMC Development Team) - competing in time trial only
Logan Owen (Bremerton, Wash./Bissell Development Team)
*Tanner Putt (Park City, Utah/Bissell Development Team)
Alexey Vermeulen (Pinckney, Mich./BMC Development Team)
Tyler Williams (Shafter, Calif./BMC Development Team)
 
Juniors Men
*William Barta (Boise, Idaho/BYRDS (Boise Young Rider Development Squad))
*Jonny Brown (Covington, Tenn./Hot Tubes Development Cycling Team, Inc.)
*Adrien Costa (Los Altos, Calif./Hagens Berman U23) - competing in road race and time trial
Jack Maddux (Fresno, Calif./Hot Tubes Development Cycling Team, Inc.)
Philip O'Donnell (Suwanee, Ga./Hot Tubes Development Cycling Team, Inc.)
*Zeke Mostov (San Francisco, Calif./Hagens Berman U23) - competing in road race and time trial
 
Juniors Women
Madeleine Boutet (Anchorage, Alaska/TWENTY16 Pro Cycling)
*Janelle Cole (Rockford, Mich./West Michigan Coast Riders) - competing in road race and time trial
Hannah Swan (Alpine, Calif./Strive Racing)
*Emma White (Delanson, N.Y./Hot Tubes Development Cycling Team, Inc.) - competing in road race and time trial
 
*-Automatic nomination

###


This Article Updated September 5, 2014 @ 08:10 PM For more information contact: