The New Young Studs of Men's Road Cycling

[Tejay van Garderen following his win at the 2013 Tour of California]

Professional men's road cycling has been a sport stuck in its own rear-view mirror for the past several years as it deals with coordinated doping among its teams and its star riders, with disgraced American cyclist Lance Armstrong serving as its poster boy for cheating and narcissism.

As that generation recedes into memory (only a few of Lance's contemporaries are still riding), there are several bright young - and presumably clean - riders who are poised to become the sports new stars - Tejay van Garderen, Peter Sagan, Taylor Phinney, Nairo Quintana, Thibaut Pinot, Andrew Talansky, and many others.

Two of these young studs were in Colorado last week for the USA Pro Challenge.

Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing), who had placed third and second over the last two years, cemented his win with a tough individual time trial that ran uphill between Vail and the top of Vail Pass. Tejay rode the 16.1 km (10 mile) course in a new course record of 25 minutes and one second, edging fellow American Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) by just four seconds.

Tejay also won the Amgen Tour of California this year, in addition to these top ten finishes in some of Europe's big races:

2nd, Overall, Tour de San Luis

3rd, Overall, Critérium International

1st,  Young rider classification

4th, Overall, Paris–Nice

7th, Overall, Tour de Suisse

van Garderen is the brightest young star in American cycling right now, but Talansky and Phinney have been showing the talent and the drive to also excel at the international level.

The other young stud, and one of the more popular riders among the fans, was Peter Sagan, who won all four of the sprint stages at this year's USA Pro Challenge, adding to what has been a very impressive year so far. Sagan didn't just win the sprints, he dominated.

The wheelie is becoming his trademark celebration - he did this during a stage of the Tour de France as he passed a section of the road lined by his fellow Slovaks.

Among his other wins this year:

1st  National Road Race Championships (Slovakia)

1st Gent–Wevelgem

1st Brabantse Pijl

1st Gran Premio Città di Camaiore

USA Pro Cycling Challenge

1st  Sprints classification

1st Stages 1, 3, 6 & 7

Tour of California

1st  Sprints classification

1st Stages 3 & 8

Tour of Oman

1st Stages 2 & 3

Tirreno–Adriatico

1st Stages 3 & 6

Tour de Suisse

1st  Points classification

1st Stages 3 & 8

Tour de France

1st  Points classification

1st Stage 7

1st Stage 1 Three Days of De Panne

2nd Strade Bianche

2nd Milan – San Remo

2nd E3 Harelbeke

2nd Tour of Flanders

Sagan is young (23) and his body is not finished developing. Also, he is not a pure sprinter. It will be interesting to see how he develops over the next three to five years

Unless one of these young guys gets nailed for doping (and I would not ever suggest that cycling is "clean" all of a sudden), there are a lot of young talented riders to be excited about, and three of those young studs are American riders.

Soccer Player Robbie Rogers Reveals He Is Gay . . . and Walks Away from the Sport at 25

I'm glad Robbie Rogers felt safe enough to come out and live his own life, but I am saddened that he felt the need to walk away from the sport that was his "escape, my purpose, my identity." Maybe one day he return to soccer, after all he is only 25 years old.

On the bright side, some of his fellow players applauded his courage and wished him well:

"Brave men like you will make it so that one day there's no need for an announcement. That day can't arrive soon enough," tweeted Eddie Pope, a U.S. veteran of three World Cups and an executive with the MLS players' union. 

"Much love and respect for you," tweeted U.S. teammate Herculez Gomez, a sentiment echoed byD.C. United's Chris Pontius, the Galaxy's Omar Gonzalez and women's national team star Abby Wambach.

I hope Rogers is not the last to live his life openly - and I hope the next man to do so will not feel the need to leave his sport.

Soccer player Robbie Rogers reveals he is gay

Robbie Rogers, 25, a Mater Dei High graduate who has played in MLS and for U.S. national team, says in blog post that he is gay and is 'stepping away' from soccer.

Mater Dei High graduate and professional soccer player Robbie Rogers announced he's gay and will be stepping away from the sport. (Drew Hallowell / Getty Images / August 10, 2011)

By Kevin Baxter | Los Angeles Times
February 15, 2013

Robbie Rogers said he had to choose between being a soccer player or being himself.

He ultimately choose to be himself, stepping away from his sport Friday in a powerful blog post in which he revealed he is gay.

"I always thought I could hide this secret," wrote Rogers, 25, a former Mater Dei High standout who played five seasons in Major League Soccer and had 18 appearances with the U.S. national team.

"Football was my escape, my purpose, my identity. Football hid my secret, gave me more joy than I could ever have imagined."

But, he concluded, "I realized I could only truly enjoy my life once I was honest. . . . My secret is gone, I am a free man, I can move on and live my life as my creator intended."

Rogers did not use the word "retirement" in his seven-paragraph announcement, instead saying, "Now is my time to step away. It's time to discover myself away from football."

Rogers' career has been in free-fall since he left MLS'Columbus Crew in 2011, the year he earned his last cap with the national team.

Troubled by nagging injuries, he was most recently playing for Stevenage of League One, the third tier of English soccer. And in his blog Rogers suggested his decline on the field was influenced by the emotional toll of trying to hide his homosexuality — although in Columbus, at least, that was said to be something of an open secret.

"You hear from athletes all the time that performance suffers from living in the closet," said journalist Cyd Zeigler, co-founder of the gay sports website Outsports.com. "I'd love to see him try again. It might be a mistake for him to stop now.

"There's a great chance that he will . . . have a clear head and be able to focus on the sport in a way he hasn't been able to in his adult life."

No active athlete in a major professional U.S. team sport has come out as gay. But Rogers was being lauded for his courage on social media Friday.

"Brave men like you will make it so that one day there's no need for an announcement. That day can't arrive soon enough," tweeted Eddie Pope, a U.S. veteran of three World Cups and an executive with the MLS players' union.

"Much love and respect for you," tweeted U.S. teammate Herculez Gomez, a sentiment echoed byD.C. United's Chris Pontius, the Galaxy's Omar Gonzalez and women's national team star Abby Wambach.

kevin.baxter@latimes.com