Amber Neben

Amber Neben atop the podium after her victory in the Burley to Magic Mountain road race (stage 8 of the 2001 Women's Challenge)

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.

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 at 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 of 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 of 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 thus far 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.

Palmares

2006 (team: Buitenpoort-Flexpoint)

• UCI points list - 12th place
• World Road Race Championship - 12th place
• La Route de France Feminin - 2nd place GC
• L'Heure D'Or Feminin - 2nd place
• Thuringen-Rundfahrt stage race - 2nd place GC
• Pan-Am Games Time Trial - 1st place
• Tour de l'Aude - 1st place GC
• Gracia Tour - 2nd place GC
• La Fleche Wallonne World Cup - 5th place
• Redlands Bicycle Classic - 1st place GC, 2 stage victories

2005 (team: Buitenpoort-Flexpoint)

UCI Points list - 24th place World Time Trial Championships - 5th place Giro d'Italia Femminile (cat. 1)- 4th place GC U.S. National Time Trial Championships - 2nd place Tour de l'Aude (cat. 1) - 1st place GC, stage victory Fleche Wallonne (Bel) World Cup - 9th place

2004

Giro della Toscana (cat. 1) - 7th place GC, stage victory U.S. National Time Trial Championship - 2nd place Le Tour du Grand Montreal - 9th place GC Montreal (Can) World Cup - 5th place

2003

UCI Points List - 22nd place Le Tour du Montreal - 1st place GC U.S. National Road Race Championship - 1st place Gracia Tour - 4th place GC, stage victory Fleche Wallonne World Cup - 7th place

2002

UCI Points List - 24th place Grande Boucle Féminine (cat. 1) - 9th place GC U.S. National Championships (Road Race - 2nd place; Time Trial - 2nd place) Women's Challenge (cat. 1) - 6th place GC Le Tour du Montréal (cat. 2) - 9th place GC Montréal (Can) World Cup - 10th place Housatonic Valley Classic - 2nd place Gracia Cez-Ede (cat. 1) - 1st place GC, Mountains jersey, 1 stage victory Vuelta a Castilla y Leon (cat. 2) - 4th place GC Sea Otter Classic - 9th place GC

2001

GP Féminin International du Canada (cat. 2) - stage victory Tour de 'Toona - 6th place GC Cascade Cycling Classic - 1st place GC, 3 stage victories BMC Software Tour of Arlington - 5th place Women's Challenge (cat. 1) - 5th place GC, stage victory Big Bear Lake, CA (MTB National Championship Series) (Long Course Cross Country - 4th place) U.S. National Championships (Time Trial - 6th place; Road Race - 2nd place) California State TT Championships (cat I-III) - 1st place Redlands Bicycle Classic (cat. 2) - 10th place GC Valley of the Sun Stage Race - 4th place GC

External links

• Amber Neben's official web site

• Amber Neben's team (Dutch language)

• CAS arbitration ruling in Amber Neben case (pdf file)