WHEN A CYCLIST beats Lance Armstrong, he doesn鈥檛 usually get invited to dinner and called the future of cycling by the sport鈥檚 disgraced but still competitive alpha male. But that鈥檚 what happened last August when 17-year-old Swirbul won the in Aspen, Colorado. Swirbul kept pace with Armstrong over 36 miles and 9,000 feet of vertical gain, then dropped him on a grueling final climb. At a time when cycling is in desperate need of a clean break from its past, Swirbul鈥檚 win put him at the front of a new crop of young riders and gave the sport a fresh face to celebrate.
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The margin by which Swirbul beat Lance Armstrong in a race last August.听
PEDIGREE: Swirbul鈥檚 talent for endurance racing became clear when he competed in a regional mountain-bike series as a kid. He didn鈥檛 win, but he was regularly beating adult riders鈥攁nd he was seven years old. Around nine, Swirbul became interested in freestyle skiing and parkour (check out his ), then added nordic skiing to his regimen in high school. He credits those skills for reducing the 鈥渇ear factor on descents.鈥
ASCENSION: After focusing on cross-country mountain biking, Swirbul scored an impressive win in last year鈥檚 , a five-race regional event in Colorado.
NEXT UP: This April, Swirbul heads into his first year as a member of a pro mountain-biking team, Denver-based Orbea鈥揟uff Shed, a small squad that Swirbul signed on with last November. His ultimate goal: competing in the Tour de France. 鈥淚鈥檓 hoping that I can make the switch from mountain biking to road racing like Cadel Evans and Floyd Landis,鈥 he says. One thing remains certain: look for him to continue doing backflips off whatever podium he finds himself on. 鈥淚t鈥檚 my thing!鈥 he says鈥攁t least until his sponsors beg him to stop.