Since Lance Armstrong brought the United States their last elite men’s road race title at the UCI Road World Championships in 1993, the top 10 has only been breached by a different US rider on six occasions out of 33: Twice by Chann McRae (1999 and 2000), by Chris Horner in 2004, Tyler Farrar in 2011, Neilson Powless in 2021, and Quinn Simmons two years ago.
But with double defending champion Tadej Pogačar unfortunately being forced to end his season as a result of his crash at the Vuelta a España, his trade teammate at UAE Team Emirates-XRG Kevin Vermaerke, believes this is the USA’s best chance at another victory since Armstrong won in Oslo.
A strong eight-man team was revealed by USA Cycling last week, with consistent Worlds performer Vermaerke set to be joined by Simmons, Powless, Brandon McNulty, Matteo Jorgenson, Larry Warbasse, Artem Schmidt, and Sean Quinn on the start line in Montréal on September 27.
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“I think it gives the US probably our best shot at a win since Lance won in ’93. I mean, we have eight guys that are all really strong, and all have a job to contribute,” Vermaerke told Cyclingnews ahead of the start of stage 15 at La Vuelta.
“And you know, without Tadej, you have, let’s say Isaac [Del Toro], Remco [Evenepoel], and [Paul] Seixas, and those three are a little bit better than everybody else.”
He then noted that, despite not having one of the specific individual favourites, there are shortcomings for those star rivals he mentioned.
“But Isaac doesn’t have the most teammates there. Belgium has a super strong team, but I think it’ll be on them to control the race. I think for us, it’ll be a case of maybe trying to get ahead of the race and then coming to a situation where we’re in the last 50k and we have multiple riders,” he added.
“Whereas maybe some others will be isolated already. And I think all of us on the team are pretty used to these Monument-length 250km plus races, and that’s something that suits us really well. So, yeah, I’m excited. Every time we get together with the national team it’s just good talk around the dinner table and a good atmosphere, and hopefully that’ll carry into the race.”
Vermaerke was the country’s top finisher last year in 23rd, and also impressed by coming 19th in Zurich, with that race seeing Simmons get into the top 10, and McNulty also finish 17th,
There is certainly a heap of talent throughout the eight-rider squad, and even specific to the course in Montréal, with McNulty being the defending champion at the Grand Prix, which will be raced next Sunday with the UAE rider, and Jorgenson – albeit riding for Visma-Lease a Bike – also present.
In preparation, and in the blistering heat which he is almost enjoying, Vermaerke is ramping up his efforts and continuing to improve ahead of cycling’s showpiece one-day event. Having infiltrated several breakaways and been in the fight for victory on stages 13 and 14 most recently, the US should be able to count on his attritional best form in a few weeks’ time.
“The takeaway is that my legs seem to be getting better every day, so I’m taking confidence from that, and I think every day you’re in front of the race, you kind of just build that confidence that you can be there the next day and deserve to be there. So I think it’s all trending in the right direction,” he told Cyclingnews and FloBikes in Palma del Rio.
“This is my fifth Grand Tour, and historically, I’ve always gotten better into the third week. Then the key is just to recover enough when you get home, and it’ll be nice to go back to the U.S. to see some friends and family, and I’ll be home for two weeks before Worlds. I think I’ll just relax, enjoy, soak up the Vuelta, and I think I’m gonna have really good legs coming out of this race if I can stay healthy and safe. That’s the goal.”
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