Troubled Chad Gerlach reportedly returning to pro cycling with Amore e Vita-McDonald's

November 28, 8:45 PMCycling ExaminerJames Raia

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It’s the time of the season when pro cycling teams big and small get the word about their rosters for the following season. It’s difficult to the keep track of all the roster moves and sponsor changes. But every once in awhile, the yearly routine includes an unexpected name. And this time, the name is Chad Gerlach.

The Australian-based web site, cyclingnews.com is reporting the Tuscany, Italy-based continential team, Amore e Vita-McDonald’s, has signed Gerlach to its squad for the 2009 season. The announcement came via team management in an article in the Italian daily newspaper, La Nazione.

The site writes via the newspaper that Gerlach, whose recent life as a homeless drug addict was featured a few months agaon on the season debut of the A&E Network show Intervention, will be part of an 18-rider roster that will be registered in the United States.

The team will also include Ukrainian sprinter Yuriy Metlushenko and former CSC rider and Tour de l'Avenir time trial winner Christian Müller from Germany. Roberto Gaggioli, the famed Italian sprinter, has been added as one of three team directors.

But it’s Gerlach, 35, whose name will likely will attract the most attention.

Here’s background from an article I wrote about the troubled cyclist who once rode side-by-side or ahead of some of the sport’s finest, including a stint as Lance Armstrong’s teammate:

"Gerlach, who was raised in West Sacramento, left cycling in 2002 and lived for five years homeless and in despair in downtown Sacramento.

Few doubted Gerlach had the talent for a successful career at the top level of the sport. He never rode in a grand tour like the Tour de France, but his nine-year pro career took him around the globe.

He won regional events like the Nevada City Classic and he won stages in diverse events like the Tour of China and Tour of Langkawi. He was a U.S. Postal Service teammate of Armstrong in 1996, but was dismissed for “personality conflicts.” Gerlach also rode with high-budget Italian squads and second-tier U.S.-based squads. Many of his coaches gave up, called the talented rider uncoachable.

But throughout his youth soccer tenure and as pro cyclist Gerlach always found difficulty. His talents were often overshadowed by an easily triggered temper.

According to the A&E Network’s description of the pending show, Gerlach was sent to juvenile hall as a teenager for a felony arrest.

But at age 15, Gerlach’s father introduced his son to cycling. The young Gerlach advanced through junior programs and then onto the Olympic development program in Colorado with riders like Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France winner; Tyler Hamilton, the reigning Olympic time trial gold medalist; and many time Tour de France finisher Bobby Julich, the long-time veteran now in his last pro season.

Gerlach had superior overall skills. He could climb with many of the sport’s best and held his own in time trials and sprints. But Gerlach was often an individual in a team sport. He had a temper and that, in part, led to his nomadic journey. He rode for nearly a dozen teams in a nine-year pro career that ended in 2002 with the Sierra Nevada squad based in Northern California.

In his final season, Gerlach finished 10th in a rich one-day circuit race in New York that also included Armstrong as its marquee attraction.

Gerlach’s erratic temper was well-known. He once punched Lance Armstrong at the Olympic training camp. And by the time he left cycling, he’d been dismissed by nearly everyone in the sport."

Gerlach’s time after the Intervention program has been nothing short of tumultuous, comprised of repeated doses of hope and dispair. Opinions about the troubled rider — many brutally harsh, some compassionate — are often documented on the cycling blog California Bicycle Racing.


The 2009 Amore & Vita roster: Alexey Bauer (Rus), Vladislav Borisov (Rus), Matt Brandt (USA), Phil Cortes (Can), Jaroslaw Dabrowski (Pol), Richard England (Aus), Peter Femal (USA), Graziano Gasparre (Ita), Chad Gerlach (USA), Fabio Gilioli (Ita), Sergey Grechyn (Ukr), Philip Mamos (Ger), Yuriy Metlushenko (Ukr), Nathan Miller (USA), Christian Müller (Ger), Soren Nissen (Den), Volodymyr Starchyk (Ukr), Andrew Talanski (USA).

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• Chad Gerlach profiled on A&E's Intervention Program