Amber Neben

Infobox Cyclist
ridername = Amber Neben

---

image_caption = Amber Neben at stage 8 of the 2001 Women's Challenge
fullname = Amber Neben
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age |1975|02|18
height = height|m=1.60 >cite web| last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Amber Neben| work = | publisher = Yahoo!| date = | url = http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/USA/Amber+Neben/221444;_ylt=AhNWUuKSqd2JFFBDkNAhCU0Sv5V4| format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-08-11 ]
weight = 2008: convert|48|kg|lb|abbr=on>]
country = USA
currentteam = Team Flexpoint
discipline = Road
role = Rider
ridertype = Allround cite web| last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Amber Neben Team Profile| work = | publisher = Team Flexpoint| date = | url = http://www.teamflexpoint.nl/www/components/rensters.asp?action=renster&folder_id=30&id=24| format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-08-08 ]
amateuryears =
amateurteams =
proyears = 2002
2003-2004
2005-2008
proteams = Cannondale
T-Mobile Team
Team Flexpoint
majorwins = flagiconUCI 2008 UCI Woman's World Time Trail Champion
updated = September 24, 2008

Amber Neben (born February 18, 1975) is an American cycle racer who won the U.S. national road race championship in 2003 and is the only active American female cyclist to win multiple UCI category 1 stage races, having won the Gracia Tour in 2002, theTour du Montreal in 2003 and the Tour de l'Aude in 2005 and again in 2006. Neben is racing for Team Flexpoint.

Biography

As a young junior in junior high and high school, Neben's principal athletic activities were centered around soccer and cross-country running. She attended the University of Nebraska on a track and cross-country scholarship, but developed stress fractures from running. Forced to curtail her running activities, she became an undergraduate assistant coach with the distance running program. Only subsequently, after graduating from college, did she take up the sport of cycling.

Meanwhile, she graduated from the University of Nebraska with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and went on from there to obtain a Master's degree in biology from the University of California, Irvine.

Her initial foray into cycle racing was as a mountain bike racer. While concentrating on MTB racing for several years, Neben also participated in road cycle racing. It was in this latter discipline that she enjoyed her greatest successes. A major breakthrough occurred during the 2001 Women's Challenge race, where she won the Rupert to Pomerelle stage with its culminating long, steep climb to the finish, becoming only the 4th American to win a stage at the Women's Challenge since it became a UCI event.

Following this, she concentrated almost exclusively on road cycling, being selected to the Road World Championship team in both 2001 and 2002.

In 2003, following the Montreal World Cup race, Neben tested positive for the banned substance 19-norandrosterone. The actual test results were not reported and confirmed until after the Tour du Montreal, which she won. Neben chose to appeal the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and, in the meantime, accepted a provisional suspension which began in mid-July 2003.

Neben claimed that the positive test result had occurred as the result of taking supplements which were contaminated with the banned substance. A formal hearing before the North American CAS Panel was held later that year and in a report issued in October 2003, the Panel concluded that a doping violation had occurred, but further stated that it was not an intentional doping violation.

In a split decision, the Panel decided that Neben should be suspended for 6 months from any race activity dating back to the beginning of her voluntary withdrawal and, further, that she would be required to submit to regular doping tests over the following 18 months. There were other conditions imposed as well.

Neben was thus eligible to participate in sanctioned racing for the year 2004. In the U.S. Olympic Trials held in June of that year, she finished in 2nd place in the Time Trial, missing first place and a spot on the 2004 Olympic team by just 8 seconds.

In the Spring of 2005, Neben achieved her greatest success up to that point in her cycling career when she won the Tour de l'Aude ahead of a strong international field. In 2006, Neben repeated her stage race victory in the Tour de l'Aude.

After a very strong season in 2007 and the first half of 2008, in which she scored several more high finishes in international and national competition, Neben was named to the 2008 U.S. Olympic road cycling team where she placed 33rd in the road race event at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. [cite web| title = Cycling - Women's Road Race| publisher = Yahoo!| url = http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/cycling/results/CRW012/2;_ylt=AgSnLyea35dJXWQ7kEesQpg1o5N4#CRW012100| accessdate = 2008-08-11 ] . Later in 2008 she became the World TT Champion [cite web| title = Neben wins elite women's time trial world championship| publisher = USA Cycling| url = http://www.usacycling.org/news/user/story.php?id=3865| accessdate = 2008-09-02 ] .

Palmarès

;2001:1st Stage victory, GP Féminin International du Canada (cat. 2):1st Cascade Cycling Classic::1st 3 stage victories:5th Women's Challenge (cat. 1)::1st Stage victory, Women's Challenge:2nd United States National Road Race Championships:1st California State TT Championships (cat I-III)

;2002:2nd United States National Road Race Championships:2nd United States National Time Trial Championships:2nd Housatonic Valley Classic:1st Gracia Cez-Ede (cat. 1)::1st Mountains jersey, Gracia Cez-Ede::1st Stage victory, Gracia Cez-Ede

;2003:1st Le Tour du Montreal:1st flagicon|USA United States National Road Race Championships:4th Gracia Tour::Stage victory, Gracia Tour

;2004:7th Giro della Toscana (cat. 1)::Stage victory, Giro della Toscana:2nd United States National Time Trial Championships

;2005:2nd United States National Time Trial Championships:1st Tour de l'Aude (cat. 1)::Stage victory, Tour de l'Aude

;2006:2nd La Route de France Feminin (cat. 2):2nd L'Heure D'Or Feminin:2nd Thuringen-Rundfahrt (cat. 1):3rd United States National Road Race Championships:2nd United States National Time Trial Championships:1st Pan American Cycling Championships Time Trial:1st Tour de l'Aude (cat. 1):2nd Gracia Tour (cat. 2):1st Redlands Bicycle Classic::2 stage victories, Redlands Bicycle Classic

;2007:1st Redlands Bicycle Classic::1st Stage victory, Redlands Bicycle Classic:1st Route de France Féminine::1st Stage victory, Route de France Féminine:2nd Thuringen-Rundfahrt:3rd United States National Road Race Championships:2nd United States National Time Trial Championships:3rd Giro San Marino

;2008:3rd Grand Prix de Suisse / Souvenir Magali Pache :2nd overall Giro d'Italia Femminile::3rd stage 5::2nd satge 6::2nd stage 7:1st overall Tour Cycliste Féminin International Ardèche::2nd satge 2::2nd stage 4:3rd Chrono Champenois - Trophée Européen :1st flagiconUCIUCI Road World Championships - Time Trial

Photo gallery

References

External links

* [http://www.amberneben.com/ Amber Neben's official web site]
* [http://www.team-flexpoint.nl/ Amber Neben's team] (Dutch/English language)
* [http://www.usantidoping.org/files/active/arbitration_rulings/arbitration_ruling_10_21_2003_neben.pdf CAS arbitration ruling in Amber Neben case] (pdf file)
* [http://www.dailypeloton.com/displayarticle.asp?pk=5975 Daily Peloton interview]