Tom Zirbel (born October 30, 1978) is an American former

road bicycle racing Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on Road surface, paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional sport, professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and ...

cyclist, who rode professionally between 2006 and 2016 for the , and teams.

Career

Born in Clear Lake, Iowa, Zirbel rode for from 2006 to 2009. He came fourth in the

UCI Road World Championships The UCI Road World Championships are the annual world championships for bicycle road racing organized by the (UCI). The UCI Road World Championships consist of events for road race and individual time trial, and a mixed team relay. Events ...

time trial in September 2009, and had signed to join

UCI ProTour The UCI ProTour was a series of road bicycle races in Europe, Australia and Canada organised by the UCI (International Cycling Union). Created by Hein Verbruggen, former president of the UCI, it comprises a number of 'ProTour' cycling teams, e ...

team the following season. In December 2009, a urine test taken at the

United States National Time Trial Championships The United States National Time Trial Championships are held annually to decide the American champions in this cycling discipline, across various age and gender categories. Originally, in 1975, the time trial event distance was 25 miles. It lat ...

the previous August, in which Zirbel came second, tested positive for

dehydroepiandrosterone Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), also known as androstenolone, is an endogenous steroid hormone precursor. It is one of the most abundant circulating steroids in humans. DHEA is produced in the adrenal glands, the gonads, and the brain. It functio ...

(DHEA). Zirbel denied having taken the substance knowingly, but he nevertheless voluntarily accepted a two-year suspension, and immediately announced his retirement. His suspension was reduced in March 2011 to 18 months, which had already been served, in recognition of assistance given to the

United States Anti-Doping Agency The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA, ) is a non-profit, non-governmental 501(c)(3) organization and the national anti- doping organization (NADO) for the United States. To protect clean competition and the integrity of sport and prevent ...

(USADA). He suggested that, despite earlier comments about retiring, he would seek to resume his racing career. He maintains that he ingested the banned product inadvertently. In 2011, Zirbel rode for . On May 28, 2011, he placed 2nd in the

, behind

David Zabriskie David Zabriskie (born January 12, 1979) is a retired professional road bicycle racer from the United States, who competed as a professional between 1999 and 2013. His main strength is individual time trials and his career highlights include stage ...

. He joined for the 2012 season. In an interview with ''

cyclingnews.com Cyclingnews.com is a website providing cycling news and race result owned by Future. History In 1995 Australian Bill Mitchell, a keen cyclist and professor of economics at the University of Newcastle, created the website titled "Bill’s Cycli ...

'' in early 2016, Zirbel confirmed that the upcoming season would be his last as a professional cyclist before retiring. In September of that year, he set a new American national hour record in

Aguascalientes Aguascalientes (; ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Aguascalientes ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Aguascalientes), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. At 22°N and ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, completing to break the 1997 record of set by

Norman Alvis Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

Major results

;2007 :

Tour of Southland The Tour of Southland is a road bicycle racing stage race held in the Southland region of New Zealand. From 2005 until 2009, the Tour of Southland has been part of the UCI Oceania Tour however the 2010 event was held as a National Tour. The To ...

::1st Stages 1 (

ITT ITT may refer to: Communication * Infantry-Tank Telephone, a device allowing infantrymen to speak to the occupants of armoured vehicles. Mathematics *Intuitionistic type theory, other name of Martin-Löf Type Theory *Intensional type theory B ...

) & 9 : 10th

Tour de Leelanau Tour de Leelanau was a USA Cycling road bicycle racing event held annually from 2005 to 2008 in Leelanau County, Michigan (near Traverse City). Starting in 2007, the men's event is sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and serves a ...

;2008 : 1st Stage 3 Tour of the Gila : 1st Stage 5 Tour of Utah : 2nd Time trial, National Road Championships : 3rd Overall

Tour of Elk Grove The Tour of Elk Grove was an annual bicycle race held in Elk Grove Village, IL in the United States. First staged in 2006, the race covered more than 277 kilometers (172 Miles) and took place over three days. The event featured 16 professional a ...

::1st Prologue : 8th Overall

Cascade Cycling Classic The Cascade Cycling Classic was the longest running elite road bicycle racing stage race in the United States (1980–2019), with 2018 being the only year the race was not held. The race took place in the Central Oregon region and was based in Be ...

;2009 : 2nd Time trial, National Road Championships : 2nd Overall

Redlands Bicycle Classic The Redlands Bicycle Classic is a cycling stage race located in Redlands, California, United States that has been held since 1985. It consists of three road races, an individual time trial and a criterium A criterium, or crit, is a bike race ...

: 2nd Overall

Nature Valley Grand Prix The North Star Grand Prix is a men's and women's road bicycle racing stage race held each June in Minnesota, United States, as part of the North Star Bicycle Festival. An event was added in North Mankato in 2016. The North Star Grand Prix is on ...

::1st Stage 1 (

) : 4th Time trial,

: 4th Overall Tour of Missouri ;2011 : 2nd Time trial, National Road Championships : 3rd

Univest Grand Prix The Reading 120, Thompson Bucks County Classic and Univest Grand Prix were professional bicycle road races founded in 1998 by former professional cyclist and two time US National Champion John Eustice, and sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Interna ...

;2012 : 2nd Overall

Vuelta del Uruguay The Vuelta Ciclista del Uruguay is a stage race, stage cycling race held annually in Uruguay. It was created in 1939 and is part of the UCI America Tour in category 2.2. Winners References External links * {{Official website, http://www.fe ...

: 5th

Chrono Champenois The Chrono Champenois is a European individual time trial bicycle race held around Bétheny in France, in the Champagne region. The race has been organised as a 1.2 event since 1989 for women's and since 1998 there is also a men's race which is ...

: 6th Overall

::1st Stage 1 (

) : 7th Duo Normand (with

Scott Zwizanski Scott Zwizanski (born May 29, 1977) is an American cyclist. He won the Tour de Beauce in 2009. He was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Palmarès ;2003 :1st Tour of Christiana ::1st stage 2 ;2004 :2nd overall Tobago Cycling Classic ;2005 :1s ...

) ;2013 : 1st MaillotUSA

Time trial, National Road Championships : 1st Stage 4

Volta ao Alentejo The Volta ao Alentejo (Portuguese; en, Tour of Alentejo) is a road bicycle racing stage race held annually in the Alentejo, Portugal. Since 2005, it has been organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a seri ...

: 9th Overall Tour of the Gila ::1st Stage 3 (

) ;2014 : 2nd Time trial, National Road Championships ;2015 : 1st Stage 3 (

) Tour of the Gila ;2016 : 1st Stage 3 (

) Tour of the Gila : 2nd Time trial, National Road Championships

References

External links

Team Profile
* American male cyclists 1978 births Living people People from Clear Lake, Iowa {{US-cycling-bio-stub