David Zabriskie

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Dave Zabriskie

Photo by Frank Steele
Personal information
Full name David Zabriskie
Nickname "The Green Hornet",[1]
DZ, Dizzy
Date of birth January 12, 1979 (age 28)
Country Flag of United States United States
Height 1.83 m
Weight 67 kg
Team information
Current team Team CSC
Discipline Road
Role Rider
Rider type Time trialist
Professional team(s)
1999-2000
2001-2004
2005-		 7-UP/Colorado Cyclist
US Postal
Team CSC
Major wins
1 stage, Tour de France
1 stage, Giro d'Italia
1 stage, Vuelta a España
Flag of United States United States National Time Trial Champion
(2004 and 2006)
Infobox last updated on:
March 4, 2007

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]

Contents

[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.
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
David Zabriskie in the prologue of the 2006 Tour of California
Medal record
World Championships
Silver 2006 Salzburg Elite Men's Time Trial
2003 – U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team
2004 – U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team
2005 – Team CSC
2006 – Team CSC

[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:

DZ: Could I ask you a question?
AP: Yes.
DZ: Do you like Star Wars?
AP: Star Wars?
DZ: The movies.
AP: Yes.
DZ: Thank you.

  • "Rock and Roll dude",[4] comment on his stage 9 time trial win at the 2004 Giro d'Italia.

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Christian Vande Velde, Vande Velde's View: My ability to discern..., VeloNews, July 9, 2006
  2. ^ Rhiannon Potkey, Cyclist Zabriskie pedals to the beat of a different drummer, Active, February 21, 2006
  3. ^ Shane Stokes, DZ's back for more, CyclingNews, February 20, 2006
  4. ^ Anthony Tan, Rock and roll, dude: Dave Z enters the record books, CyclingNews, May 17, 2005
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

[edit] External links


Riders on Team CSC

Kurt Asle Arvesen | Lars Bak | Michael Blaudzun | Matti Breschel | Fabian Cancellara | Íñigo Cuesta | Matthew Goss | Juan José Haedo | Volodymyr Hustov | Allan Johansen | Bobby Julich | Kasper Klostergaard | Alexandr Kolobnev | Karsten Kroon | Marcus Ljungqvist | Anders Lund | Lars Michaelsen | Stuart O'Grady | Martin Pedersen | Luke Roberts | Carlos Sastre | Andy Schleck | Fränk Schleck | Chris Anker Sørensen | Nicki Sørensen | Christian Vandevelde | Jens Voigt |  David Zabriskie
Manager
Bjarne Riis
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