Garmin-Cervelo's Dave Zabriskie powered his way the US National time trial championship for this sixth time in his career on Saturday in Greenville, South Carolina, with a time of 40 minutes and 23 seconds. Zabriskie beat second placed finisher Tom Zirbel (Jamis-Sutter Home) by 31 seconds, signaling a strong return to competition following his recent suspension. Third place went to Team RadioShack's Matthew Busche, who continued his momentum following a strong ride at the Tour of California, barely edging out BMC Racing's Brent Bookwalter by a tenth of a second.
“I came here for one reason, to win and take that jersey back and I accomplished that,” said Zabriskie after the finish. “I really love this event and wearing the Stars-and-Stripes – I take a lot of pride in that.”
Zabriskie rode the 33.3 kilometer rolling course coming close to his record time set in 2009 at 39 minutes and 37 seconds. That same year Zirbel also finished second behind the Garmin-Cervelo rider in the event.
“It’s definitely an emotional day for me,” Zirbel said of his return to the podium. “Before the race I was pretty focused, but I didn’t really know what to expect because I didn’t have a time trial in [the Tour of] California. Now that I have a chance to reflect I’m getting a bit chocked up,” he admitted. The Jamis-Sutter Home had hoped to gauge his fitness against the best in the world earlier this month, but a mechanical saw that opportunity lost.
Busche admits he was a bit surprised by his time trial result. “Coming in, I really had no expectations; I was honestly focused on the road race.” Busche explained. “Coming out of [the Tour of] California I knew I had pretty good form, but I knew Dave was riding like lightning and guys like Brent and Tejay [Van Garderen] (HTC-Highroad) are tough.”
Monday will see the Greenville host the National Road Race Championships presented by TD Bank. Ben King (RadioShack) will be present for the 185 kilometer event to try to defend his title.