Updated August 27, 2025 07:07AM
Can Team USA Punch Above its Underdog Status at Rwanda Worlds?
Some 23 riders head to Kigali for Africa's first road cycling world championships, but several big names are sitting this one out.
Dygert will try to better he second from last year.
Chloé Dygert, Quinn Simmons, and junior prodigy Ashlin Barry are the top riders hunting the stripes in what will be an underdog team for USA Cycling’s world championship squad for Kigali, Rwanda, from September 21-28.
Team USA will roll into Kigali with 23 riders across elite, U23, and junior categories as the 2025 UCI worlds make history with the first world championships on African roads.
The roster is a mix of WorldTour firepower with rising domestic talent, but several marquee names are avoiding the long trip to Africa.
That will make it even more challenging to bring home the first U.S. elite road world title in decades.
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On the women’s side, Olympic bronze medalist and former world TT champion Dygert will chase medals in both disciplines, flanked by Ruth Edwards, whose climbing legs could thrive on Rwanda’s altitude-driven circuits.
U.S. national road champion Simmons leads the men’s elite lineup after a top-10 at last year’s worlds, joined by WorldTour workhorse Kevin Vermaerke and Ineos Grenadiers all-rounder Magnus Sheffield, who doubles up in the road race and time trial.
Can this underdog team battle with the elite stars like Tadej Pogačar and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot?
Edwards, Barry, Dygert chasing hardware
The Kigali climb-heavy course promises relentless climbing, altitude, and selective racing.
That makes Edwards a dark-horse medal bet in the road race, while Barry — the Canadian-born star now racing with a U.S. license — hopes to turn last year’s fifth place into the rainbow jersey.
The event also marks a milestone with the first-ever stand-alone U23 women’s road race, where national champion Ella Sabo headlines Team USA.
Several big names are missing, including Brandon McNulty, Matteo Jorgenson, double Olympic champion Kristen Faulkner, and Neilson Powless, who all declined nominations.
Sepp Kuss is also steering clear of the mountainous course that, on paper at least, would favor him.
The last elite women to win the world title? Beth Heiden won in 1980 and Audrey McElmury, who became the first U.S. road world champion, in 1969.
Dygert was close with second last year in Zurich, and 10 elite U.S. women have hit the podium since Heiden’s win.
It’s been an equally long wait for the elite men, with Lance Armstrong the last U.S. winner in 1993. Greg LeMond won twice, in 1983 and 1989, and was twice runner-up.
No elite U.S. male has medaled since Armstrong’s 1993 win, with Powless’ fifth in 2021 matching the U.S. best of Chann McRae, also fifth in 1999.
Team USA Roster — Rwanda 2025 road worlds
Elite Men
Will Barta (Movistar) – RR, TT
Luke Lamperti (Soudal Quick-Step) – RR
Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers) – RR, TT
Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) – RR
Kevin Vermaerke (Picnic PostNL) – RR
Larry Warbasse (Decathlon AG2R) – RR
Elite Women
Chloé Dygert (Canyon//SRAM) – RR, TT
Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health) – RR, TT
U23 Men
Evan Boyle (Hagens Berman Jayco) – RR
Cole Kessler (Lidl-Trek) – RR, TT
U23 Women
Mia Aseltine (Competitive Edge Racing) – RR, TT
Helena Jones (AG Insurance-Soudal) – RR, TT
Ella Sabo (Virginia’s Blue Ridge Twenty28) – RR
Katherine Sarkisov (CCB p/b Levine Law Group) – RR
Junior Men
Kashus Adamski (Hot Tubes) – RR
Ashlin Barry (JEGG-SKIL-DJR) – RR, TT
Beckam Drake (Hill’s Sport Shop) – RR, TT
Enzo Hincapie (EF Education-ONTO) – RR
Braden Reitz (Decathlon AG2R Newgen) – RR
Junior Women
Lidia Cusack (Tofauti Majaco) – RR, TT
Liliana Edwards (Washington, D.C.) – RR, TT
Alexis Jaramillo (Sonic Boom Racing) – RR
Alyssa Sarkisov (dcdevo Racing Academy) – RR
