Vallnord, Andorra will play host to the 2015 UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships September 1-6. The United States will be represented by 39 athletes across two-disciplines at the world championships.
Howard Grotts (Specialized Factory Racing), the recently crowned men’s pro cross-country champion, will hope to repeat or improve on his bronze-medal performance from last year’s world championships, in the under-23 category. Stephen Ettinger (Team Sho-Air-Cannondale) has been consistent on the U.S. Cup circuit this year and will look for a solid placing at worlds in the elite men’s race.
Aaron Gwin (Specialized Racing) headlines the downhill team. He won his seventh U.S. downhill national championship a couple weeks ago in Mammoth Mountain, California. Gwin, a two-time World Cup overall champion, currently leads the season downhill World Cup standings by 104 points with only two events remaining.
On the women’s side, Lea Davison (Specialized Factory Racing) looks for a high placing at worlds after riding to third last year. She captured second at the World Cup stop in Lenzerheide, Switzerland earlier this year. Chloe Woodruff (Team Stan’s NoTubes-Niner) captured the short-track and cross-country titles at nationals and looks to bring some of that form to Andorra.
Jill Kintner (Red Bull-Norco Bicycles) swept the downhill and gravity events at the national championships to earn three stars and stripes jerseys for 2015. Kintner is currently ranked 8th in the UCI downhill standings and placed fifth at the third round of the World Cup in Leogang Salzburgerland, Austria.
Below is the full U.S. roster for the 2015 UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships.
Elite men cross-country
Stephen Ettinger (Team Sho-Air-Cannondale)
Russell Finsterwald (SRAM-Troy Lee Designs Race Team)
Spencer Paxson (Kona Bicycles Factory Team)
Alex Grant (Riderbiker-Cannondale)
Elite women cross-country
Lea Davison (Specialized Factory Racing)
Georgia Gould (Luna Pro Team)
Chloe Woodruff (Team Stan’s NoTubes-Niner)
Erin Huck (Scott-3RoxRacing)
Mary McConneloug (Team KENDA-M&M Racing)
Rose Grant (Stan’s NoTubes)
U23 men cross-country
Howard Grotts (Specialized Factory Racing)
Cypress Gorry (Whole Athlete-Specialized Cycling Team)
Keegan Swenson (Sho-Air-Cannondale)
Sepp Kuss (RMCF-Devo)
U23 women cross-country
Kate Courtney (Specialized Factory Racing)
Shayna Powless (Live CO-Factory)
Junior men cross-country
Christopher Blevins (Whole Athlete Specialized Cycling Team)
Anders Johnson (Whole Athlete Specialized Cycling Team)
Carson Beckett (Whole Athlete Specialized Cycling Team)
Eli Kranefuss (Bear Development Team)
Jerry Dufour (Team Mugshots)
Junior women cross-country
Haley Batten (Whole Athlete Specialized Cycling Team)
Rachel Anders (Summit-Competitive Cyclist)
Kelsey Urban (Whole Athlete Specialized Cycling Team)
Ksenia Lepikhina
Elite men downhill
Aaron Gwin (Specialized Racing)
Luca Shaw (SRAM-Troy Lee Designs)
Kiran MacKinnon
Neko Mulally (Gstaad-Scott)
Luca Cometti (Intense Factory Racing)
Mikey Sylvestry (Troy Lee Designs)
Kevin Aiello (Factory Team)
Elite women downhill
Jill Kintner (Red Bull-Norco Bicycles)
Junior men downhill
Charles Harrison
Bruce Klein
Andras Simon
Warren Kniss
Jacob Jordan
Josh Rogers
The post USA Cycling names team for UCI mountain bike worlds appeared first on VeloNews.com.
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