Who's the U.S. national champion?

Having just watched Thor Hushovd go styling across the
finish line in his (Norwegian) national champions jersey, it
ocurred to me that, though I've seen a number of riders
wearing their national championship jersies, I have yet to
see anyone wearing the U.S. colors. Is the U.S. champ simply
not in the Tour de France, or is there in fact no such animal?

Fred Rodriguez finished 4th in Philly. (see
http://www.velonews.com/race/dom/articles/6218.0.html ).
Rodriguez rides for the Acqua & Sapone team (who?) and
unfortunately his team wasn't invited to the show. Blame the
UCI point system for that one. Invited teams have to have a
base number of points and experience level, most often
gained in European races. Doing mostly US races rarely gives
teams enough coverage for Tour de France invites. USPS has Europe and
Us squads. And thats why there are so many americans racing
on foreign teams--to have the chance to go to the Tour de France show.

"Jones" <real.email@concealed> wrote in message news:FMmIc.235963$Gx4.146550@bgtnsc04-
news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
> Having just watched Thor Hushovd go styling across the
> finish line in his (Norwegian) national champions jersey,
> it ocurred to me that, though I've seen a number of riders
> wearing their national championship jersies, I
have
> yet to see anyone wearing the U.S. colors. Is the U.S.
> champ simply not in the Tour de France, or is there in fact no
> such animal?

Jones wrote:
> Having just watched Thor Hushovd go styling across the
> finish line in his (Norwegian) national champions jersey,
> it ocurred to me that, though I've seen a number of riders
> wearing their national championship jersies, I have yet to
> see anyone wearing the U.S. colors. Is the U.S. champ
> simply not in the Tour de France, or is there in fact no such animal?

No, Francisco Alberdi isn't riding the Tour.

in article FMmIc.235963$Gx4.146550@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net, Jones
at real.email@concealed wrote on 7/11/04 7:34 PM:

> Having just watched Thor Hushovd go styling across the
> finish line in his (Norwegian) national champions jersey,
> it ocurred to me that, though I've seen a number of riders
> wearing their national championship jersies, I have yet to
> see anyone wearing the U.S. colors. Is the U.S. champ
> simply not in the Tour de France, or is there in fact no such animal?

The current American champion is Fred Rodriguez, who was in
the Tour last year. He was not the American champion then,
though; Mark McCormack was. Last year, McCormack was on
Saturn, an American Div. III team. This year, Rodriguez is
on Acqua & Sapone, an Italian Div. II team. Neither team has
ever been invited to the Tour de France and it is rather
unlikely that they ever will.

-Sonarrat.

Christine Thorburn.

Dan

"vern" <vern18544@.net>...
> Fred Rodriguez finished 4th in Philly. (see
> http://www.velonews.com/race/dom/articles/6218.0.html ).
> Rodriguez rides for the Acqua & Sapone team (who?) and
> unfortunately his team wasn't invited to the show. Blame
> the UCI point system for that one. Invited teams have to
> have a base number of points and experience level, most
> often gained in European races. Doing mostly US races
> rarely gives teams enough coverage for Tour de France invites. USPS
> has Europe and Us squads. And

The vast majority of Acqua and Sapone's races are in Europe.

-Ken

Sonarrat <mynick@nospam.hotmail> wrote in message news:<BD178744.446B%mynick@nospam.hotmail>...
> in article FMmIc.235963$Gx4.146550@bgtnsc04-
> news.ops.worldnet.att.net, Jones at real.email@concealed
> wrote on 7/11/04 7:34 PM:
>
> > Having just watched Thor Hushovd go styling across the
> > finish line in his (Norwegian) national champions
> > jersey, it ocurred to me that, though I've seen a number
> > of riders wearing their national championship jersies, I
> > have yet to see anyone wearing the U.S. colors. Is the
> > U.S. champ simply not in the Tour de France, or is there in fact no
> > such animal?
>
> The current American champion is Fred Rodriguez, who was
> in the Tour last year. He was not the American champion
> then, though; Mark McCormack was. Last year, McCormack was
> on Saturn, an American Div. III team. This year, Rodriguez
> is on Acqua & Sapone, an Italian Div. II team. Neither
> team has ever been invited to the Tour de France and it is
> rather unlikely that they ever will.
>
> -Sonarrat.

There's actually two US champions, the TT champ, David
Zabriskie isn't the Tour either.

Dan Connelly wrote:
> Christine Thorburn.

That ain't gonna get you a date.