Flyin Phil Zajicek Honored

Brisbane, Australia – Phil Zajicek of the Fly V Australia Pro Cycling Team has been honoured as “North American Domestic Climber of the Year” in VeloNews magazine’s 22nd annual awards issue.

The 10th-year American professional received accolades for bouncing back from several early-season injuries to score some impressive climbing-stage finishes, the biggest of which came on the final stage of the SRAM Tour of the Gila.

Writes VeloNews: “The stage was meant to be (Lance) 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 (of Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner).”

Fly V Australia Team owner Chris White called Zajicek’s victory that day “the performance of a lifetime.”

“What Phil did on the monster stage at Gila was incredible,” White said. “Just to think you can beat those guys in that situation is an incredible accomplishment, not to mention being able to actually do it. Phil ticked all those boxes, he won the tough Monster stage and slayed a few Giants.”

Zajicek also went on to win the second stage of La Vuelta de Bisbee in addition to runner-up finishes on stages of the Tour de Beauce and the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic. He was third overall at the SRAM Tour of the Gila, fifth overall at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and the Tour of Tasmania and eighth at the USA Cycling national road championship after setting the pace the final time up the decisive Paris Mountain climb in Greenville, S.C.

In 2009, Fly V Australia won more than 90 races, including 44 in North America. The victory count for the second-year team included 21 stage wins and all but one of the tours in the Australia National Road Series.

Owned and operated by Pegasus Racing Pty Ltd., Fly V Australia is predominantly made up of Australia’s most talented cyclists and aims to be part of the PRO Tour and race in the Tour de France by 2012.