Dygert, Kuss, and Powless lead Team USA at 2020 UCI road world championships

USA Cycling announced Friday the men and women who will represent the United States at the 2020 UCI road cycling world championships in Imola, Italy on September 24-27.

The new venue was announced earlier this week. The originally planned venue of Aigle-Martigny, Switzerland, withdrew its offer in early August to host the event, with Swiss health officials citing concerns about the pandemic.

The only events on the schedule are the elites men’s and women’s road race and individual time trial.

Kicking off a long weekend of racing, Chloe Dygert (TWENTY20) will line up in the individual time trial to defend her rainbow jersey. Also racing in the women’s race against the clock is two-time world time trial champion Amber Neben (Cogeas–Mettler Cycling Team) who finished fourth in the 2019 event. Leah Thomas (Équipe Paule Ka) will also represent the United States.

On the men’s side, Lawson Craddock (EF Pro Cycling) will be joined by Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) who finished third in the U-23 individual time trial at the world championships in 2019.

Taking to the road race, the United States has a roster of both experience and youth. Ruth Winder (Trek-Segafredo) and 72-time national champion Coryn Rivera (Team Sunweb) will be joined by Lauren Stephens (Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank) and Tyler Wiles (Trek-Segafredo). Then men’s squad will feature Tour de France young stars Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) and Neilson Powless (EF Pro Cycling) who will be joined by Craddock and McNulty.

The junior and under-23 road cycling events will not be held in 2020, and winners from 2019 will get to keep their placings through the next time the respective events are contested.

In 2019 USA Cycling earned six medals at the UCI road worlds in Yorkshire, England with five of those medals collected in junior and U-23 events.

Megan Jastrab (Rally Cycling) and Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafrado) will both keep their world titles for one more year, even though Simmons is no longer eligible to race in the junior category.

2020 USA Cycling world championships roster

Women’s individual time trial
Chloe Dygert (Brownsburg, Ind.; TWENTY20)
Amber Neben (Lake Forest, Calif.; Cogeas–Mettler Cycling Team)
Leah Thomas (Santa Clara, Calif.; Équipe Paule Ka)

Women’s road race
Chloe Dygert (Brownsburg, Ind.; TWENTY20)
Amber Neben (Lake Forest, Calif.; Cogeas–Mettler Cycling Team)
Coryn Rivera (Newport Beach, Calif.; Team Sunweb)
Lauren Stephens (Mesquite, Texas; Team TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank)
Leah Thomas (Santa Clara, Calif.; Équipe Paule Ka)
Tayler Wiles (Fairfax, Calif.; Trek-Segafredo)
Ruth Winder (Lafayette, Calif.; Trek-Segafredo)

Men’s individual time trial
Lawson Craddock (Houston, Texas; EF Education First Pro Cycling)
Brandon McNulty (Phoenix, Ariz; UAE Team Emirates)

Men’s road race
Lawson Craddock (Houston, Texas; EF Education First Pro Cycling)
Brandon McNulty (Phoenix, Ariz; UAE Team Emirates)
Sepp Kuss (Durango, Colo; Team Jumbo Visma)
Neilson Powless (Roseville, Calif.; EF Education First Pro Cycling)

2020 UCI road cycling world championships schedule

Thursday, September 24: elite women’s individual time trial
Friday, September 25: elite men’s individual time trial
Saturday, September 26: elite women’s road race
Sunday, September 27: elite men’s road race