Only two of the five elite American men nominated to the upcoming UCI world road championships in Verona, Italy, have accepted their bids, USA Cycling announced on September 15, leaving speculation on which riders might fill the remaining spots.

All five women nominated have confirmed their participation in Verona.

USPRO champion Fred Rodriguez (Acqua & Sapone) and 2004 Olympic team member Jason McCartney (Health Net-Maxxis) will compete at the world championships. Tyler Hamilton (Phonak), Bobby Julich (CSC), Levi Leipheimer (Rabobank), and Lance Armstrong and George Hincapie (both of U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor) have all declined to participate. The final automatic nominee for the men’s squad, Chris Horner (Webcor Builders), has not yet confirmed or declined his spot. USA Cycling has compiled a list of discretionary nominations from which the remaining members of the team will be chosen. Those athletes include Chris Baldwin (Navigators Insurance), Michael Creed (U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor), Floyd Landis (U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor), John Lieswyn (Health Net-Maxxis), Patrick McCarty (U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor), Kirk O’Bee (Navigators Insurance), Guido Trenti (Fassa Bortolo) and recent Vuelta a España stage winner David Zabriskie (U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor). Women’s automatic qualifiers Kristin Armstrong, Dede Barry and Kimberly Bruckner, all of T-Mobile, will be joined by Tina Pic (Genesis Scuba-FFCC) and Christine Thorburn (Webcor Builders). Barry, the recent Olympic silver medalist, and Thorburn will also ride the time trial based on their top-five performances in Athens. The women’s squad is completed by Amber Neben (T-Mobile) through a discretionary nomination based on international results.

USA Cycling also recently announced its complete junior team. Receiving automatic nominations based on their overall standings in the USA Cycling junior national road selection series are Zach Taylor of Marietta, Georgia, and Zach Bolian of Nashville, Tennessee. Taylor took top honors in the eight-race series after winning the selection series races in Redlands, California, and Burlington, Wisconsin. Taylor’s accumulated point total was also boosted by two stage wins and a third-place-overall finish at the Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic and a silver medal at the USCF Junior National Time Trial Championships.

Bolian was the runner-up in the series standings thanks to consistent performances throughout the season, including a win in the selection series stop in East Troy, Wisconsin. Bolian’s 2004 résumé also includes top-five finishes in stage one and the overall classification in Fitchburg and both the road race and time trial in Redlands.

Joining Taylor and Bolian through discretionary nominations are Chris Stockburger of Fort Collins, Colorado, Adam Switters of Folsom, California, and Alexander Boyd of Oxnard, California.

Stockburger is the reigning USCF junior national time trial champion after taking a win at the Park City Cycling Festival last month. Switters posted impressive results all season, including a win in the time trial at the Redlands selection event. Boyd was runner-up to Bolian at the International Cycling Classic stage in East Troy, Wisconsin. and took third place in the national championship road race.

Of the five nominees, Stockburger has secured a spot to ride the time trial in Verona with the second slot going to either Taylor or Switters depending on the outcome of the G.P. des Nations on September 19.

Rebecca Much of Chicago, the USCF junior national road and time trial champion, will be the lone junior women’s representative for the U.S. Much’s two national titles automatically qualified her to contest both events in Verona.

The U23 athletes nominated to the long team are currently racing in Europe and include Timothy Duggan (Boulder, Colorado), Steven Cozza (Petaluma, California), Kevin Bouchard-Hall (Shelburne, Vermont), Blake Caldwell (Boulder, Colorado), Saul Raisin (Dalton, Georgia), Darby Thomas (Montpelier, Vermont.), Dan Bowman (Farmington Hills, Michigan), Ian MacGregor (Boulder, Colorado), Matthew Crane (Old Greenwich, Connecticut), and Tyler Farrar (Wenatchee, Washington).

The five riders that will make the trip to Verona will be formally selected following the conclusion of their European campaign on September 26.

The only rider to secure an automatic nomination is Farrar, earning a spot for the time trial as the USCF U23 national time trial champion. Farrar has posted several key results lately which also include a stage win at the Tour de l’Avenir, a USCF national criterium championship, a win at the Manhattan Beach Grand Prix and a second-place finish at the USPRO Criterium Championships in Downer’s Grove, Illinois.

As with the juniors, the final time trial spot will be decided following the G.P. des Nations.