In his fifth year as a professional cyclist, Christian Vande Velde is looking to recapture a little beginner’s luck.
As a Tour de France rookie in 1999, Vande Velde, who will ride for the U.S. Postal Service team in Sunday’s U.S. Pro Cycling Championships, distinguished himself on Lance Armstrong’s first winning squad. An infected spider bite kept him from the starting line in 2000, and two crashes knocked him out last year.
He has continued to perform strongly in one-day and short stage races in Europe, and he achieved a lifelong ambition when he made the 2000 U.S. Olympic track cycling team, following in the tire treads of his father, John.
But Vande Velde’s current priority is holding rubber to the road in this year’s Tour, where Armstrong will bid for his fourth consecutive victory.
“I didn’t know what to expect this year because I had taken so much time off,” said Vande Velde, 26, whose 2001 Tour ended with a frightening crash on a mountain descent that left him with a shattered arm and a wounded spirit. “I’m starting to let it fly, trying to enjoy myself.”
Sunday, Vande Velde likely will ride in support of Postal’s George Hincapie, who won the U.S. title in 1998. The 156-mile race, in which riders repeat a 14.4-mile loop that takes them west of downtown Philadelphia, attracts 750,000 spectators annually. The race features riders from 24 countries, but the first U.S. rider over the line is designated national champion and is entitled to wear a stars-and-stripes jersey in international competitions for the next calendar year.
Armstrong, who won in Philadelphia in 1993, is in the midst of his final Tour de France preparations in Europe, where Vande Velde will join him shortly. The Lemont native’s responsibilities as one of Armstrong’s wheelmen have increased steadily despite his Tour misfortunes, and he is expected to be named to the Tour roster later this month.
“You can’t ignore the fact that Christian’s had some awful luck in the Tour,” Armstrong said this week. “We still think he’s one of the brightest hopes of American cycling. He has proven that, internationally, in a ton of big races. It’s logical that we try to help him develop.”
Despite his setbacks, Vande Velde said he thinks he has improved and matured.
“I’m more diesel-like,” he said. “Less of a sprinter, more of a climber. I have more reserves. I think I might be going further into the mountains this year.”
Although his season was interrupted by a hamstring problem, Vande Velde has had some solid results. In April’s Amstel Gold, a race Armstrong long has lusted to win, Vande Velde held on the longest, working for his team leader until the final stretch where Armstrong set out on his own and eventually finished fourth.
One unexpected benefit of Vande Velde’s layoff last summer was the deepening of his relationship with his high school sweetheart, Leah Antonopoulos. The two have known each other since 3rd grade but found it difficult to maintain their closeness as Vande Velde’s career blossomed and his travel schedule grew more demanding.
They had a lot of time to reassess things during his convalescence, and when Vande Velde returned to his U.S. training base of Boulder, Colo., Antonopoulos went with him. One morning last month, at a friend’s borrowed condominium in the ski resort town of Vail, he made her waffles for breakfast and proposed on the balcony with the dramatic scenery as a backdrop. They have set an October wedding date.
“Imagine if she hyphenated [her last names],” Vande Velde said. “That’d be ugly.”
