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Danny Pate (Garmin-Slipstream) has a long-standing relationship with the top of the results sheet at the USA Cycling Professional National Championships in Greenville, South Carolina. Pate has finished top-five in the road race every year since the event moved from Philadelphia to Greenville in 2006. A former U23 world time trial champion, Pate has skipped the time trial each of the last two seasons to focus solely on the road race at nationals and hopes to break through to the top step of the podium Sunday.

If Saturday’s rowdy and enthusiastic welcome for the Vuelta a España is any indication, next year’s Giro and Tour starts should be off the charts. An estimated 40,000 fans braved wind, cold and rain to watch SuperFabio roar into the leader’s jersey at the Vuelta, so just imagine what it’s going to be like in Amsterdam, which hosts the Giro start in May, and Rotterdam, which has the Tour’s grand depart in July. Holland is playing host to all three grand tours and the Dutch fans seem up to the task of making the pro peloton feel welcome.

Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Slipstream) reaffirmed his position atop the U.S. time trial field Saturday, as he won his fourth consecutive national championship by nearly one minute on a 20.7-mile course in Greenville, South Carolina. Zabriskie blazed the winding Greenville time trial course Saturday in a time of 39:37, 1:02 faster than his winning time on the same course in 2008.

When the stage has a clock sitting at the finish line and riders start one at a time, you can almost bet the house that Fabian Cancellara is going to be fastest across the line. The big Swiss time machine reaffirmed his prowess against the clock with an impressive ride on damp but not wet roads in front of 40,000 rowdy Dutch fans to jump start the 64th Vuelta a España and snag the leader’s jersey.

Start Times – Prologue, Vuelta a España, 2009

• 1. Alberto FernÁndez Sainz Xacobeo Galiciap, starts at 3:21p.m.
• 2. Matheus Pronk Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team, starts at 3:22p.m.
• 3. Dominik Roels Team Milram, starts at 3:23p.m.
• 4. Frantisek Rabon Team Columbia-HTC, starts at 3:24p.m.
• 5. Kevin De Weert Quick Step, starts at 3:25p.m.
• 6. Francesco Tomei Lampre-NGC, starts at 3:26p.m.
• 7. Christian Meier Garmin-Slipstream, starts at 3:27p.m.
• 8.

The organizers of the U.S. Professional Road and Time Trial Championships released the following start list for Saturday's time trial in Greenville, South Carolina.

• 1. 11.30:00 Jonathan Hamblen Dlp Racing
• 2. 11.32:00 Wade Wolfenbarger Cinelli-Down Under
• 3. 11.34:00 Kiel Reijnen Jelly Belly Cycling Team
• 4. 11.36:00 Jonathan Chodroff Ouch Presented By Maxxis
• 5. 11.38:00 Matthew Crane Jelly Belly Cycling Team
• 6. 11.40:00 Omer Kem Bissell Pro Cycling

Editor's Note: Calvin Jones is Park Tool's education director and the chief mechanic for Team USA at next week's mountain bike world championships in Canberra, Australia. His future columns from Canberra will be published on VeloNews.com's sister site, Singletrack.com. An archive of his journals is available on the Park Tool Web site.

The 64th Vuelta a España clicks into gear Saturday on the Assen race track with one of its deepest and most competitive fields ever. Not only are riders racing the Vuelta to prepare for the world championships, but some of the biggest names are lining up with nothing less than all-out victory as their stated goals. With none of last year’s top-3 back to defend their podium spots, the 2009 Vuelta is wide open. A challenging course well-suited for aggressive attacks in the mountains will promise to keep things interesting all the way into the final week.

When Singletrack.com laid eyes on Scott Morris' photos and diary from the recently completed Colorado Trail Race, our notion of "epic ride" took on new meaning.

Astana is sending Tour of California champ Levi Leipheimer to the Tour of Missouri next month, in what will be Leipheimer's first race sine he broke his wrist during the Tour de France. Joining Leipheimer on the team will be 2007 Tour de Georgia winner Janez Brajkovic and Yaroslav Popovych, a Tour of Italy podium finisher and stage winner at the Tour de Georgia. "I'm still recovering from my broken wrist," Leipheimer said. "But anytime I have the opportunity to line-up for a race of this caliber in my own country, I'm going to make my best effort to participate."

Chris Horner will finally get a crack at the GC in a grand tour when the Vuelta a España clicks into gear on Saturday in Holland. That’s according to Astana sport director Sean Yates, who said the team will let Horner give it a stab for the overall classification. “Horner has progressed a lot this year, but he hasn’t had a chance to show on his own what he can do in the GC because he’s always been working for others,” Yates said. “I think he’s very motivated for the Vuelta. First he has to avoid a crash and then it’s a question of following.”

Preliminary Start List – Vuelta a España 2009

The Greenville Hospital System USA Cycling Professional Championships return to Greenville, South Carolina for the fourth year August 29-30 and pit the bulk of the domestic peloton against select ProTour riders in a battle for stars and stripes jerseys in the time trial and road race. 2009 marks the 25th anniversary of the one-day road race national championships.

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Garmin-Slipstream's sprinter Tyler Farrar will be looking for stage wins at the Vuelta a Espana starting Saturday, and the team is sending a squad of all-rounders and sprinters to help him get his first grand tour stage win. Farrar is coming off a string of successes at the Tour de France and the Eneco Tour. Team CEO Jonathan Vaughters says he expects the success to continue.

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Spin doctors?

As if the last two years hadn’t happened at all, Alexander Vinokourov is back at the Vuelta a España and back on the Astana team. Ignore that two-year racing ban for illegal blood transfusions and forget about the behind-the-scenes power struggle at Astana involving Johan Bruyneel, Vinokourov and the power cadre of Kazakh backers. At least that’s what Vinokourov wants everyone to do.

Press Release

Just in time for fall, Fort Bicycles is rolling out some great deals on cyclocross frames. A Fort all-aluminum Cross.Max frame is now selling for $349, and the carbon-aluminum Cross.Max.SSC is just $549. Both are sold as frames only (no forks), but Fort does offer SRAM, Campy, or Shimano build kits as special order items.

Press Release

In the first Mountain Bike World Championship event since the Beijing Olympics, American XC athletes will square off against rivals from across the globe in the only Olympic discipline of off-road cycling.

Sentencing for Chris Jongewaard is scheduled two days after upcoming World Championships in Canberra, Australia.

Every style of riding you could ever hope to find can be found in this Canadian mountain biking hot spot.

@lancearmstrong: Good morning Dublin. Who wants to ride this afternoon? I do. 5:30pm at the roundabout of Fountain Road and Chesterfield Avenue. See you there. What started out as a simple Tweet from his mobile phone just hours earlier turned into a Lance Armstrong frenzy when over a thousand riders turned up at 5:30 in Dublin’s Phoenix Park Tuesday evening. An army of Armstrong fans turned up from all over Ireland, and indeed from various other countries, in the hope of getting to ride with their idol, and they were not disappointed.[nid:97151]