David Zabriskie

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**David Zabriskie**
Personal information
Photo by Frank Steele
Full name	David Zabriskie
Nickname	"The Green Hornet",^[1] DZ, Dizzy
Date of birth	January 12, 1979 (age 27)
Country	United States
Team information
Current team	Team CSC
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Time trialist
ProTour rank	129
Professional team(s)
1999-2000 2001-2004 2005-	7-UP/Colorado Cyclist US Postal Team CSC
Major wins
1 stage, Vuelta a España 1 stage, Tour de France 1 stage, Giro d'Italia
Infobox last updated on:
December 11, 2006

David Zabriskie (born January 12, 1979 in Salt Lake City) is a professional road bicycle racer from the United States who rides for Team CSC. His main strength is individual time trials and his career highlights include stage wins in all three Grand Tour stage races, as well as the US National Time Trial Championship. Zabriskie is known for his quirky nature, including singing before stages and the interviews he does with fellow riders in the professional peloton which are posted on his homepage.

He became the third American ever to wear the leader's jersey at the 2005 Tour de France, after the three-time Tour winner Greg Lemond, and seven-time winner Lance Armstrong. George Hincapie and Floyd Landis became the fourth and fifth American in 2006. He is considered by some to be the heir-apparent to Armstrong as the greatest American cyclist.^[2]

1 Biography
2 Results
3 Quotes
4 Footnotes
5 External links

[edit] Biography

Zabriskie made his professional debut with the Colorado Cyclist team in 1999. After displaying his talent for time trials by winning the US National Time Trial Championships (junior and under-23 age categories) and the Grand Prix des Nations (under-23 category), Zabriskie moved on to the US Postal Service cycling team in 2001.

Zabriskie at the 2006 Tour de Georgia.

Following a year plagued by crashes and injuries, he returned to form in 2004, winning the Elite US National Time Trial Championships and stage 11 of the Vuelta a España, his first Grand Tour stage win -- especially notable among his victories for not being a time trial. In the 2005 season Zabriskie switched to Danish Team CSC, where he racked up another Grand Tour stage victory by winning the 8th stage of the 2005 Giro d'Italia.

Despite success on the international cycling scene, Zabriskie did not receive much attention in his native United States until the 2005 Tour de France, when he won the stage 1 time trial -- making him the first American to win stages in all three Grand Tours. Zabriskie beat Lance Armstrong by two seconds and set the record for the fastest ever time trial in the Tour de France, clocking an average speed of 54.676 km/h. He wore the leader's jersey, the maillot jaune, until the team time trial on stage 4, where he crashed within the final two kilometres, a crash diagnosed as a chain slip though Zabriskie himself didn't know what had happened.^[3] After the crash, Zabriskie suffered from his injuries and on stage 8, he arrived last, 51'12" after winner Pieter Weening. Zabriskie abandoned in the 9th stage (from Gérardmer to Mulhouse), after 11 km. Before Zabriskie had fully recovered from his crash in the Tour de France, he walked through a closed glass door, cutting himself badly enough to end his 2005 season. Back home from the Tour de France, Zabriskie was honored in the American state of Utah by the declaration of "Dave Zabriskie Day" by both Salt Lake County mayor Peter Carroon and Salt Lake City mayor Rocky Anderson.

Zabriskie's 2006 season started out well, with a strong 2nd place finish in the February stage race Amgen Tour of California, 29 seconds after the winner, fellow countryman Floyd Landis. He was initially placed 3rd in the April stage race Ford Tour de Georgia, but as he lost time to the favourite riders on the Brasstown Bald mountain stage, he finished 6th place overall. Dave Zabriskie won two time trials in the Dauphiné Libéré in May, beating Floyd Landis in the prologue by two seconds, and winning Stage 3 by 53 seconds, again ahead of Landis, further proving Zabriskie's outstanding time trialing skills. Following several mountain stages, including a ride up the Mont Ventoux, Zabriskie finished the race in 32nd place, behind winner Levi Leipheimer.

Upon completing the 2006 Tour de France in 74th place, Zabriskie became the second American behind Christian Vandevelde to finish all three Grand Tours.

[edit] Results

David Zabriskie in the prologue of the 2006 Tour of California

Olympic medal record
World Championships
Silver	2006 Salzburg	Elite Men's Time Trial

2003 – U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team

Best young rider, Quatre Jours de Dunkerque

2004 – U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team

Stage 11, Vuelta a España
United States National Time Trial Championship

2005 – Team CSC

Stage 1 (ITT), Tour de France
- Maillot jaune (after Stage 1)
Stage 8 (ITT), Giro d'Italia
Stage 4 (TTT), Tour Méditeranéen

2006 – Team CSC

USPRO National Time Trial Championship
Stage 2 (TTT), Settimana Ciclistica Internazionale
Prologue (ITT), and stage 3 (ITT), Dauphiné Libéré
- Points competition (green jersey) leader (after Stage 3)
2nd (Silver), World Time Trial Championships

[edit] Quotes

David Zabriskie has conducted a number of flash-interviews in the peloton with various riders, displaying them on his website. They usually go down like the following interview of Alessandro Petacchi: