22nd Annual Velonews Awards: Congrats TrainingPeaks members Phil Zajicek, Kristin Armstrong, Rory Sutherland, and Taylor Phinney

Photo courtesy of Velonews

Congratulations to all the TrainingPeaks members featured in the 22nd Annual Velonews Awards, including Phil Zajicek as Climber of the Year, Rory Sutherland as Male Roadie of the Year, Kristin Armstrong as North American Woman of the Year, and Taylor Phinney and North American Under-23 Man of the Year.

Describing Zajicek's biggest climbing stage finish of the season on the final stage of the Tour of the Gila, Velonews reports, "The stage was meant to be Armstrong's first win of the season, but Zajicek had other plans, putting in a winning effort during the last 400 meters and crossing the line ahead of the Mellow Johnny's trio."

Velonews chose Sutherland over Tom Zirbel and Sebastian Haedo for the overall National Racing Calendar (NRC) victory for his variety of skills in sprinting, climbing and time trialing. "The winner of the NRC the past two years, Sutherland again led the series this year for the first half of the season, and one can only wonder how he would have finished had he not taken a pivotal month off from racing for the birth of his first child."

Kristin Armstrong, who will continue coaching with TrainingPeaks after retiring from racing, ended her career with time trial victories in the two most important events in women's road racing: the Olympics and the world championships.

On the other end of his career, 19-year-old Taylor Phinney also had two huge wins by the end of the 2009 season: at the under-23 Paris-Roubaix and at the world elite individual pursuit.

Read more in the January 2010 issue of Velonews.