Riding with the powerful CSC squad for the past three years, Zabriskie has had a good deal of success. His strength has always been as a time trial specialist, but he showed remarkable improvement as a climber and placed fifth overall in this year's Dauphine Libere, just 2:15 behind the leader in the eight-day race.

Zabriskie is the only American cyclist to win stages in each of the three grand tours. He is also one of only five U.S. cyclists to ever wear the Tour de France's yellow jersey after he burst onto the international scene with a time trial victory in 2005.

After a strong prologue in this year's Tour, Zabriskie faded out of contention quickly and eventually dropped out of the race, complaining of knee pain associated with an injury suffered in a car accident several years ago.

He has cut short his European season to take care of his knee at TOSH with reknowned cycling experts Max Testa, M.D. and Eric Heiden, M.D.

Slipstream team director Jonathon Vaughters said he expects the new additions to provide critical leadership roles as the young team grows.

"We're not the kind of team that's going to have a big solid GC leader," Vaughters told cyclingnews.com. "That's not going to be the style of the team. But those guys will be the leaders in spirit. They'll be the guys who are captains on the road and will help our young guys get to the next level."

By joining Slipstream, Zabriskie may find himself riding in more domestic events, including the Tour of Utah if it resurfaces in 2008, until Slipstream knows if its application for the UCI Pro Tour is granted for the 2009 season. The addition of Tour de France veterans, though, may get Slipstream a wild-card invitation to the grand tours in Europe. Currently, Slipstream has a split squad with some cyclists concentrating on races in North America and others racing in international competitions.

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E-mail: jeborn@desnews.com