Ettinger honored as USAC male athlete of the year

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Stephen Ettinger (BMC Mountain Bike Development Team) was honored as the USA Cycling Male Athlete of the Year at a ceremony on November 5 at the US Bicycling Hall of Fame in Davis, California.

Ettinger got his start as a 10-year-old in Washington state's local race scene. By age 16, he was competing for national titles, and by age 18 was competing at world championship events. He finished third is his inaugural pro race and has posted 23 top-10 finishes (including eight victories) in the more than 40 races he has entered since 2009.

As a member of USA Cycling's National Development Program, Ettinger has consistently shown that he is able to compete among the world's best. This summer, at the USA Cycling Cross Country National Championships, he won the under 23 men's cross country race by more than three minutes.

At the same ceremony, Ruthie Matthes was inducted into the US Bicycling Hall of Fame in the off-road competitor category. Matthes won the cross country world championship in 1991 although she was also an accomplished road cyclist, too. She was cross country World Cup champion in 1992 and finished 10th at the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia in 2000.