Christian Vande Velde

Christian Vande Velde has competed in almost every important cycling event from the World Cup to all three of the Grand Tours. Talented both on the road and the track, Christian rode for the 2000 U.S. Olympic Track Team in Sydney and for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Road Team in Beijing.Cycling was a natural part of his life when Christian began riding at age 16. His father, John, was a competitive cyclist and represented the U.S. on the track at both the 1968 and 1972 Olympics. At a time when few Americans were competing in Europe, John Vande Velde was one of the first to make the jump from U.S. domestic racing to compete in the European ranks. Christian qualified for the Junior Track World Championships in 1994, which was also the automatic qualifier for the Pan American Games. From that point on, he rode for the U.S. National Team. Although he was enrolled in a small college in Indianapolis in 1995, Christian decided instead to attend a national training camp in Australia. In 1996, he was a resident athlete of the U.S. Olympic Training Center, and in 1997 was named USA Cycling Male Athlete of the Year and USCF Senior Male Athlete of the Year. He was the overall winner on the track in Individual Pursuit that year, and won three National Championships. All of his success resulted in a contract with the US Postal Service Pro Cycling Team. As a member of USPS, Christian twice rode on the Tour de France team that brought Lance Armstrong to victory in 1999 and 2001.Christian, his wife, Leah, and their two children (Uma and Madeline) split their time each year between Lemont and Girona, Spain. Leah, a trained chef, has leveraged her skills to orient food and meals around Christian's performance, which means she has designed low-gluten dishes to reduce symptoms of inflammation that Christian was suffering from. You can listen to Christian’s voice as he announces the Tour de France and NBC Sports.