The USA Cycling Professional Championships have featured the best American cyclists since beginning in 1985 for male riders and last year for women. Many of these riders have gone on to win the top races in Europe and to compete and win medals in the Olympic Games.
Here's a look at some of the past winners of the race, including the men and women who won their national championships last year in Chattanooga.
MEN
Fred Rodriguez (2000, 2001, 2004, 2013): "Fast Freddie" won the sprint to the line on Market Street in Chattanooga last year to claim his fourth road race national championship. He's known for his dominance in the sprints and his longevity in the sport as he still is competing at the age of 40. He has also won a stage in the 2004 Giro d'Italia and four stages in the Tour de Georgia. He will return to Chattanooga this weekend.
Tom Zirbel (2013): After being runner-up in 2008, 2009 and 2011, Zirbel broke through last year to win the national time trial championship at the Chattanooga Volkswagen plant. He will return this year to try and win the time trial again. He finished fourth in the world time trial championships in 2009.
Eric Heiden (1985): After winning five gold medals in speed skating at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, Heiden took up cycling and won the road race at the first-ever USA Cycling Pro Championships in Philadelphia. He also took part in the 1986 Tour de France as a member of the 7-Eleven Cycling Team.
Davis Phinney (1991): Phinney was the second American ever to win a stage at the Tour de France in 1986, and he won bronze at the 1984 Olympics in the team time trial event before earning the U.S. road race championship. He is married to Connie Carpenter-Phinney, an Olympic gold medal winning cyclist and former U.S. women's road race champion. Their son, Taylor, won the U.S. time trial championship in 2010, and he will compete in both the road race and time trial this weekend.
Lance Armstrong (1993): After winning the road race national title as a 21-year-old, Armstrong nearly lost his life in a battle with cancer. He recovered, and went on to become one of the most well-known cyclists in the United States, winning the Tour de France seven times before being stripped of those wins last year after admitting to using performance-enhancing drugs.
David Zabriskie (2004, 2006-09, 2011-12): Zabriskie owns the time trial competition at the USA Pro Championships, winning the event seven times in the past decade. He is expected to be here Saturday looking to defend his 2012 title after competing at the Amgen Tour of California earlier this month. Zabriskie served a six-month ban that ended in March of this year after admitting to his use of performance-enhancing drugs during his time as a member of the U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team.
George Hincapie (1998, 2006, 2009): Hincapie is well known throughout cycling after a long, successful career. He competed a record 17 times in the Tour de France-finishing the grueling three-week race all but once-and is a three-time U.S. road race champion. He retired last year after admitting to the use of performance-enhancing drugs while racing on Lance Armstrong's U.S. Postal Cycling Team, but he has admitted to his mistakes and remains active in cycling with the Hincapie Sportswear bike clothing line and with young pro riders on his Hincapie Sportswear Development Cycling Team, which has several riders who will be participating in Chattanooga.
Tyler Hamilton (2008): Hamilton had several run-ins with anti-doping officials throughout his career, winning and ultimately being stripped of an Olympic gold medal won in 2004, serving a two-year suspension after failing a drug test at the 2004 Vuelta a Espana and again being suspended from the sport after a failed test in 2009. He has since published a book detailing drug use throughout his career.
WOMEN
In 2014, the American women's peloton made their debut at the USA Pro Championships alongside the men, running on the same courses in Chattanooga and with equal prize money on the line. But elite American women have been competing for national titles for years. Here's a look at some past national champions from the women's ranks.
Carmen Small (2013): The Specialized-lululemon rider edged Kristin McGrath for the time trial championship in Chattanooga last year by less than two seconds. Small and McGrath will be back this year to battle for the Stars and Stripes jersey, and Small is in good form so far this season. Earlier this month, she won the women's circuit race at the Amgen Tour of California.
Jade Wilcoxson (2013): After winning the U.S. road race championship in Chattanooga last year, Wilcoxson claimed a second national title later that summer by winning the USA Cycling Elite Track National Championship in Carson, Calif. The Optum presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies Team rider came to pro cycling late, obtaining her doctorate in physical therapy before her doctor advised her to take up cycling because she was at risk of developing diabetes.
Kristin Armstrong (2004, 2005-07): Armstrong is perhaps the most well-known American woman cyclist. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, winning the individual time trial at the 2008 and 2012 Games. She has been U.S. champion in both the time trial and road race, winning both in 2006.
Mara Abbott (2007, 2010): Abbott is the first American to win the Giro Donne, one of the Grand Tours of women's pro cycling, and she continues to be a force on the women's peloton. She began her athletic career as a competitive swimmer at Whitman College, where she discovered cycling and won two college national titles.
Connie Carpenter-Phinney (1976-77, 1979, 1981): Carpenter-Phinney, wife of former pro Davis Phinney, is the youngest American ever to compete in a Winter Olympics, finishing seventh at 14 years old in the 1,500-meter speed skating competition at the 1972 Games in Sapporo, Japan. She later turned her focus to cycling, winning five national titles including both the road race and time trial championships in 1981 and gold medal in the road race at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. She is the mother of current BMC Racing Team member Taylor Phinney, who will be competing this weekend and is a former U.S. time trial champion.