An Unlikely US Cycling Hero?

Professional Cycling and its fans are still rocked by ongoing fallout from the Lance Armstrong debacle and other performance enhancing drug use revelations. In the absence of a charismatic US hero, professional cycling is not getting the news coverage in the US it did when Armstrong was winning seven Tour de France stage races.

Armstrong and most of his rivals have retired, having "aged-out" of cycling, making way for a new generation of younger cyclists, who are thought to be riding clean. Sure, the irrepressible – and very likeable – Jens Voigt is still racing hard at 42, but the top finishers in recent Grand Tour (Giro d’Italia, Tour de France, Veulta a Espana) stage races have been younger riders like Bradley Wiggins, Vincenzo Nibali, and Chris Froome, and most of the top racers retire in their mid 30s. Meanwhile even younger US racers like Tejay van Garderen, and Andrew Talansky are “knocking on the door” and showing they could be Grand Tour winners in the next few years.

But in the meantime, and to the surprise of the cycling world, an unlikely US cycling hero has emerged.

On Sunday, nealy-42-year-old American Chris Horner won the three-week-long Veulta a Espana when there was no change in the time gaps between the leaders as a result of Sunday’s final stage. The time gap Horner had built in several mountain stages towards the end of the race stayed at 37 seconds. Italy’s Vencenzo Nibali was second and Spain’s Alejandro Valverde, third. This result made Horner the oldest cyclist to have won one of the Grand Tours, the previous record being Fermin Lambot, who won the 1922 Tour de France at 36 years of age.

Horner showed excellent condition with a high finish in an early spring race, but was then hampered by a knee injury that required surgery. He had not raced or trained hard for most of the season. This was the last year of his contract with pro team RadioShack Leopard, and a forced retirement was looking likely as no professional cycling team would be interested in an injured aging “has been”. But Horner loves racing his bike and had other plans. He arrived at the Tour of Utah six day stage race having not raced in months, and with only a little hard training, but quickly showed he wasn’t there to just ride his bike, he was there to race for the win. After a week long duel with American Tommy Danielson, Horner finished 2nd.

Next up for Horner was the third and last Grand Tour of the season, the Vuelta a Espana. The conventional wisdom is that it takes nearly a season of careful preparation: carefully planned training efforts interspersed with a few races, to build the fitness to be a contender in a three week long stage race. Horner had none of that, but he brought his enthusiasm and his single recent success. Most Cycling pundits would have placed him – at best -- on their long list of favorites for the win, well after Nibali (who very convincingly won the Giro d’Italia in May), and other top riders like Alejandro Valverde and Joaquim Rodriquez of Spain.

The pundits may have been impressed when Horner climbed away from his rivals at the finish of stage three to lead the race by a few seconds and become the oldest rider ever to wear a leader’s jersey in a Grand Tour (Horner will be 42 in October), but his lack of training and racing this year, and his age, were expected to take him out of contention over the course of three grueling weeks of racing.

But the affable Horner, a favorite for interviews because of his sharp tactical skill and analysis of the racing situation, his persistent and obvious enthusiasm, and his confidence, had other plans. While he lost the lead by four seconds on a later stage, he regained it again on another mountain top finish, this time by a more comfortable margin of 45 seconds.

Like most American professional cyclists, Horner turned pro dreaming of racing the top-tier European pro races like the Tour de France. He was racing in Europe as a young pro, but it didn’t work out. Many cyclists believe he refused to use performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) and was not successful in European racing as a result. Horner returned to US-based pro racing, where he did very well for years, racing in what is essentially cycling’s second and third divisions. Horner dominated the American road racing scene by winning the points standings in the 2002, 2003 and 2004 USA Cycling National Racing Calendar. But the lure of the top tier races, and the apparent reduction in PED use lured Horner back to Europe. He was back racing for a French team in the 2005 Tour de France, then raced in support of super star Cadel Evans at the 2006 and 2007 TdFs, but was hampered by bronchitis at the 2006 event, and then joined Lance Armstrong’s team in 2008, where he continued to ride for other top riders.

But riding in support of other strong riders did not allow Horner to really show what he could do. Though when several other team mates crashed hard during the 2010 Tour de France and lost so much time they was out of contention, Horner was given free reign by the team, and went on to finish 9th.

Fast forward to the 2013 Veulta a Espana. Horner lost the lead for a second time when Nibali and other top contenders were faster on the stage 11 Time Trial; Horner was down to 4th, 46 seconds back of Nibali. But Horner was still relaxed, affable and confident. And then at each subsequent mountain top finish, Horner was able to ride away from the other top rivals and gain back time. And Horner looked comfortable while he was doing it.

On Thursday’s stage Horner attacked again near the finish and finished 25 seconds ahead of Nibali, putting him only three seconds out of the lead, and over a minute ahead of the third place rider, Alejandro Valverde. Nibali and the other favorites do not appear to have an answer to Horner’s ability to climb faster on the steepest sections. Momentum had swung to Horner, and Nibali was looking like a tired boxer trying to hang on.

Then Friday’s stage 19 had relatively easy climbs and did not present Horner with the ideal circumstances to gain time on Nibali, but in the uphill sprint for the finish Horner gained seven seconds to take the lead by three.

Saturday’s 20th stage was another very hard, very steep, mountain top finish, ideal for Horner who excels as a climber, particularly on the steepest climbs. American cycling enthusiasts were sitting on the edge of their seats watching the Vuelta, hoping that a 41 year old Horner, who has never before had the opportunity to ride for the win at a Grand Tour, could hold or extend his lead on Saturday’s stage 20, and then hold that lead for the 21st and last stage, which ended in Madrid.

Vincenzo Nibali is an established and rising cycling superstar. In the 2012 Tour de France, he was the only rider able to threaten the Team Sky duo of Bradley Wiggins and Chris Horner. For the 2013 season Nibali targeted the Giro d’Italia, skipped the tour and then targeted the Veulta a Espana and the World Championship. He dominated at the Giro d’Italia, winning convincingly, and was the clear favorite coming into the Vuelta, where he hoped to win again, joining a very select group of cycling superstars who have won two grand tours in the same year.

During Saturday’s stage, the contenders waited until the decisive last climb, as was expected. Nibali’s Astana team was able to keep several riders with him as other riders not able to handle the pace up the climb fell behind. Nibali surged away from Horner and two other contenders repeatedly, but each time Horner kept his cool and slowly closed the gap down. And then as they approached the top of the climb and the steepest sections, and the fog closed in, Horner turned the screws, keeping the pace up. A small group of riders who had broken away from the main field early in the day were being reeled in one by one by Horner and Nibali, until only one was still ahead. But that did not matter to Horner, who only needed to increase his small time advantage on Nibali to win the Veulta a Espana. Finally Horner was able to gap Nibali and pull away to cross the line second. With the small time bonus for finishing second, his advantage over Nibali was now 37 seconds. Sunday’s final stage did not have climbs that could split the field and by tradition the leading riders did not attack each other, leaving the finish to the sprinting specialists.

Horner’s Veulta victory could create a new US cycling hero. And Chris Horner? He just wants to keep racing his bike. And he is one of the riders representing the US at the World Championship September 29th, on a course near Florence Italy, that while not as difficult as some of the stages in the Vuelta a Espana, might just suit him.