Ameeeeeeeerica!

When I first got into following cycling it was right around the time that Lance Armstrong was finishing up his string of Tour de France victories. At the time there was not much hope for any other American to be such a dominant force in pro cycling. George Hincapie, Floyd Landis and Levi Leipheimer seemed like the best hopes. Hincapie did get into yellow, Landis got caught cheating, and Levi was eventually overshadowed by his teammate Alberto Contador.

Last year Christian Vande Velde emerged as a possible podium contender, and Levi seems to have improved as well. Both have raced very well but neither really seems up to being a favorite to win in France. Of course Armstrong has returned and added another high powered American to the mix, but it seems unlikely that he'll once again take home the yellow jersey.

So even though Lance is back, the question remains, who will be the future power of American cycling to replace Armstrong?

There is of course track star Taylor Phinney and pro sprinter Tyler Farrar. But cyclingnews.com has the scoop on some more young guns who are in the development pipeline.

In keeping with the American racer theme, the United States national team got some good news for the World Championships. Pretty much because Lance Armstrong came back (and Tyler Farrar had a stronger year) the U.S. will be allowed to take 9 riders to the national championships instead of 5, like it had to take last year. This should bolster the possibility of the U.S. getting the rainbow stripes for the first time since Armstrong did it in 1993. Still, I'm not sure if any top American rider really has the world championship as a goal. But hopefully we can do better than 23rd like last year.

In the bad news for American cycling department, Lance says he's not going to ride in the Tour of Missouri. That's too bad. He brings the crowds, and I'm sure the ToM could use as much positive feedback as it can get after the race was nearly canceled this year. It should prove an interesting race once again though, as I'm sure team Columbia will be even more motivated to take the overall win away from Christian Vande Velde and Garmin Slipstream after the apparent bad blood at the Tour de France this year.