By Mark Zalewski, North American Editor
The organisers of the USPRO road and time trial championships in Greenville, SC announced today the big guns who will be coming from Europe. It was certainly no surprise to see Greenville resident George Hincapie (Discovery Channel) on the start list as he knows the roads of the race course like the back of his hand. Joining Hincapie from the ProTour ranks will be Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner) who is set to join Hincapie next year on Discovery Channel, as well as David Zabriskie (Team CSC) who has to be one of the favourites for the time trial title.
Some notable names remaining in Europe are three-time winner Freddie Rodriguez and his Davitamon-Lotto teammate Chris Horner, who will both be racing the Vuelta. Horner made a stateside appearance the other week at the Tour of Elk Grove in Chicago, commenting that he was finally recovered from an extra-brutal Tour de France. Also, Bobby Julich will not be racing though Christian Vande Velde will.
Joining Hincapie for the Discovery Channel team in the road race will be Jason McCartney who will also race the time trial with the Race2Replace winner A.J. Smith. Viacheslav Ekimov will also make his debut as directeur sportif for the team, but there is no word yet on if he will be getting a haircut in his new role on the management side of the team.
