5 cyclists to watch at the USA Cycling Pro Road National Championships
Many of the best cyclists America has to offer will be riding into Knoxville this weekend for the USA Cycling Pro Road National Championships, all striving to don the red, white and blue jersey as national champion.
The championships will take place June 23-26 with the Time Trials on Thursday, Criterium on Friday and Road Race on Sunday.
The field includes several defending champs, Olympians and remarkable stories. Here are five cyclists to keep an eye on this weekend:
Amber Neben (Lake Forest, Calif.)
Neben is a three-time Olympian — most recently finishing fifth in individual time trials at last year's Summer Games in Tokyo — and has won six national championships, yet her backstory is perhaps even more incredible.
At 4 years old, Neben was diagnosed with spinal meningitis, and when she was 33 it was discovered she had melanoma. Neither of these very serious medical conditions kept her away from living her life, though.
Now 47, she'll be competing in the Elite Women's Individual Time Trial on Thursday, where she won a silver medal in 2021. She won the event for three consecutive years from 2017-19.
Lawson Craddock (Austin, Texas)
Craddock comes to Knoxville with the target of defending Elite Men's Individual Time Trial champion on his back for the first time. It was the first career national championship for the 30-year-old, who has been professional since 2011.
He also represented Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics in both the road race and individual time trial events. He has twice competed in the Tour de France, where he made headlines in 2018 for finishing the three-week race despite suffering a broken shoulder blade on the first day.
Coryn Labecki (Tustin, Calif.)
That should be reason enough to look out for Labecki in both Friday's Criterium and Sunday's Road Race, but there's an added element to it:It has been four years since shewon a national title.
Labecki came up just short in the Road Race in both 2019 and 2021, taking silver each time, and finished seventh in the Olympic road race last year. She is among the favorites to cross the finish line first this weekend.
Joseph Rosskopf (Decatur, Ga.)
Like Craddock, Rosskopf will be competing in both the Men's Time Trial and Road Race. While his contemporary won the Time Trials last year, Rosskopf enters as the defending Road Race champion.
It was his first national championship in the Road Race after having won the Time Trial in 2017 and 2018. Those two previous wins landed him a spot in the 2019 Tour de France.
Lauren Stephens (Dallas)
The story of Stephens is one of grit. She is looking to defend her Road Race national championship just weeks after a nasty crash at Unbound Gravel left her with stitches on her forearm and hip.
Despite the ailments, Stephens intends to compete in not just the Road Race but also the Time Trial. She told USA Cycling her injuries have made training on her time trial bike difficult, but now that she has had a taste of one national championship, she's determined to make it two in 2022.
Alberto Camargo is a sports intern with the Knoxville-News Sentinel. Contact him at acamargo@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @albaretoe.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: 5 cyclists to watch at the USA Cycling Pro Road National Championships
