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Vande Velde, Garmin-Chipotle crowned Pro Tour champions
 Colorado Springs, Colo. (September 16, 2008)—With his overall victory at the Tour of Missouri last weekend, Christian Vande Velde (Boulder, Colo./Garmin-Chipotle) won the season-long USA Cycling Professional Tour with a total of 272 points over runner up and defending champion Levi Leipheimer (Santa Rosa, Calif./Astana), who finished the season with 244.
In the team standings, Vande Velde’s Garmin/Chipotle Professional Cycling Team earned the overall title with 711 points over Team Columbia (513).
For Vande Velde, his overall Tour title caps off arguably the best season of his career which also included a fifth-place overall finish at the Tour de France in July and a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team last month in Beijing.
In addition to his overall win in Missouri, Vande Velde won the stage 3 time trial in Branson, finished third overall at the Amgen Tour of California and third at the USA Cycling Professional Time Trial National Championships.
Having just finished its second year, the USA Cycling Professional Tour consists of all the internationally-sanctioned events in the United States and USA Cycling’s three professional road championships in the disciplines of criterium, time trial and road racing. After 14 events in 2008, Vande Velde and Leipheimer were the most dominant, followed by third-place finisher Dominique Rollin (CAN/Toyota-United Pro), Eric Baumann (GER/Team Sparkasse) and Kanstantin Sivtsov (BLR/Team Columbia) with 144, 141 and 140 points respectively. In the team classification, Astana followed in third place with 358 points ahead of Team CSC (342) and Rock Racing (343).
For complete final standings from the 2008 USA Cycling Professional Tour, click here.
About USA Cycling
Recognized by the United States Olympic Committee and the Union Cycliste Internationale, USA Cycling is the official governing body for all disciplines of competitive cycling in the United States, including road, track, mountain bike, BMX and cyclo-cross. As a membership-based organization and sanctioning body, USA Cycling consists of 64,000+ members, including 57,000 competitive cyclists, 1,500 coaches, 4,000 student-athletes, 2,200 officials, 350 professional cyclists, and 200 certified mechanics. USA Cycling also sanctions 2,500 competitive and non-competitive organized cycling events throughout the United States annually, as well as 1,800 clubs and teams. Associations of USA Cycling include the United States Cycling Federation (road, track & cyclo-cross), the National Off-Road Bicycle Association (mountain bike), the BMX Association, the National Collegiate Cycling Association and the United States Professional Racing Organization. USA Cycling is also responsible for the identification, development, support and promotion of American cyclists through various athletic initiatives and programs including the USA Cycling National Development Team, the USA Cycling Women’s National Team, the USA Cycling Junior Development Team, Talent Identification and Regional Development Camps, domestic and international race calendars, direct athlete funding and support programs, and educational camps and seminars. USA Cycling also fields and supports U.S. National Teams for various international events, including the Olympic Games, World Championships, Pan American Games, Continental Championship and World Cups across all levels and disciplines of competitive cycling. USA cycling further supports grass roots and locally-based initiatives through its 32 Local Associations and comprehensive network of licensed and certified coaches and officials. Additionally, USA Cycling conducts National Championship events for amateur and professional cyclists, awarding more than 600 national titles annually to men and women in junior, U23, masters, elite, professional and paralympic categories throughout the various disciplines of competitive cycling. To learn more about USA Cycling, visit www.usacycling.org. For media-related or general inquiries, please contact USA Cycling Director of Communications, Andy Lee at 719-866-4867 or alee@usacycling.org.
This Article Published 2008-09-16 15:47:03
For more information contact: alee@usacycling.org
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