Team Type 1 Fields Proven Line-Up For USPRO Championships
By Sean Weide
Greenville, S.C. – Team Type 1 will field a line-up for this weekend’s Greenville Hospital System USA Cycling Professional Championships that includes a pair of past top 10 finishers in the road race and time trial and as well as the only competitor in the event who has Type 1 diabetes.
Chris Jones finished eighth in the road race last year and ninth in 2007. He is coming off a solid performance at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah, where he helped teammate Darren Lill earn a runner-up finish.
Michael Creed (above) finished sixth in the time trial last year was seventh in 2007. After joining Team Type 1 in mid-season, he has been one of the team’s most consistent placers in National Racing Calendar (NRC) stage races.
Team Type 1 Co-Founder Joe Eldridge will be the only athlete who has Type 1 diabetes competing in either the road race or the time trial. People with Type 1 diabetes have too much sugar in their bloodstream because their bodies don’t produce insulin. Eldridge uses rapid-acting mealtime insulin Apidra®, the FreeStyle Navigator Continuous Glucose Monitor and the OmniPod Insulin Management System to help him manage his diabetes.
Creed will be Team Type 1’s only entrant in Saturday’s USA Cycling Professional Individual Time Trial Championship presented by Duke Energy. The race against the clock begins at 11:30 a.m. EDT and takes place on a 6.9-mile course at Clemson University’s International Center for Automotive Research. Three circuits of the course will be completed for a total of 20.7 miles. David Zabriskie is the event’s three-time defending champion.
Sunday’s USA Cycling Professional Road Race Championship begins at 1 p.m. EDT at South Main and Camperdown Streets in the West End section of Greenville, near Falls Park. Team Type 1’s line-up for the 110-mile (177 km) race consists of Creed, Eldridge, Jones, Ken Hanson, Dan Holt, Ian MacGregor and Shawn Milne.
The road race includes four passes over Paris Mountain, one of the most prominent ridges in South Carolina that is five miles north of Greenville. There will be three opening circuits in the West End section, followed by four full laps of approximately 21 miles each, followed by three finishing circuits. Last year’s champion, Tyler Hamilton, retired in mid-season and will not return to defend his title.
Team Type 1 Director Sportif Vassili Davidenko said Creed, Jones and Milne will be the team’s protected riders In the road race.
“They are all on good form,” Davidenko said. “After racing at the Tour of Ireland, Shawn in particular has great leg speed and European-level endurance, which should really help.”
This is the 25th anniversary of the one-day road race championship. Past winners include speed skating Olympic champion Eric Heiden (1985), Lance Armstrong (1993) and Team Type 1 General Manager Tom Schuler (1987). Since the championships moved to Greenville in 2006, competitors have had to be American members of UCI-registered trade teams only.
There will be no live, on-line broadcasts of this year’s race. However, the Universal Sports Television Network will be taping the race for telecast in September. Follow @TeamType 1 on Twitter for updates.
Photo: Leonard Basobas
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