UCI grad added to U.S. Olympic cycling team

Amber Neben, a UC Irvine graduate, has been added to the U.S. Olympic cycling team and will compete at the Beijing Games next month.

Neben, ranked in the top 10 in the world, will be making her Olympic debut. The 34-year-old recently finished second at the Giro d’ Italia, considered one of the top international races for women.

Neben will compete in the mass start road race alongside Christine Thorburn and Kristin Armstrong. Neben is one of the most decorated American cyclists on the international circuit. In the past three years, she’s either won or placed in most major races across Europe.

Her list of accomplishments include overall victories in the 2005 and 2006 Tour de l’Aude and the 2007 Route de France Feminin, as well as a second-place finish in the 2007 Thuringen Rundfahrt der Frauen.

Neben also earned back-to-back bronze medals at the 2006 and 2007 USA Cycling Elite Road National Championships, finished third overall at the 2007 Giro di San Marino and placed fourth at the 2007 Fleche Wallonne World Cup.

— From staff reports