The USA Cycling Pro Road Championships in Knoxville will be a homecoming in many ways for the Human Powered Health team. For veteran and former U.S. professional road racing champion Ben King, will he be able to return to the winner's circle?

The soft-spoken Virginia native announced earlier this month his plans to retire from the pro peloton at the end of this season. This trip, not far from his home in Charlottesville, may have been a truly crowning moment in his 15-year career.

"It's a really special race for me, I won it in 2010 and I was 21 years old. It's still one of the best days of my career. Today, I believe in the possibilities again," King told Cycling News

after four and a half hours in the saddle and bringing his teammate Kyle Murphy his first national title. [He] rode really well last year and today, and I'm really proud of the way he rode.

Murphy finished third last year when teammate Joey Roskopf won. This time, the Orange pro team did not have Roskov, but they still executed a textbook game plan of multiple attacks, sending riders into the breakaway and then attacking in the final few miles to push Murphy to the top of the podium.

King was caught in the mix all day at mile 102 of the 115.6-mile race. He attacked early on and was in a group of seven, but with four miles to go he was caught and eventually reduced to four, finishing fourth behind Tyler Stites (Project Echelon) in second and Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers) in third, just two seconds shy of the podium. He missed the podium by two seconds.

"Last night and this morning I was filled with wonder, two weeks ago I was really sick," King explained of the roller coaster of emotions.

"I had a great run today in the breakaway group. It would have been great to finish fourth. I can't complain. The team was great today and I'm really happy that Human Powered Health won. We had the numbers to play tactically and we were dominant."

King won a bronze medal at the 2010 U23 road race in Greenville, South Carolina. At the time, he was the first rider under the age of 23 to win the US Pro Road Race championship.

"I miss it and I still think about it so deeply that I can't really process it. I didn't leave because I didn't love racing, I left because I loved it.

After college, King began his professional career with the Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast team under Circuit Sports. He then spent a decade with several larger programs, and in 2018 won two stages at the Vuelta a España while riding for the World Tour-level Team Dimension Data. Last year, he returned to a team under the Circuit Sport umbrella and is now with a professional team called Human Powered Health. He won the mountain class at the season-opening Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, and like the team, the US Pro Cycling Championships was his first major race in the US this season. He will then compete in the Maryland Cycling Classic on September 4.

"I don't expect the Maryland Cycling Classic to be my last race, but it will be my last race in the US. It's close to home and it will be a special race," King told Cycling News earlier this month.

Human Powered Health lost two key riders on its way to Knoxville. Defending road race champion Joey Rothkopf was unable to move on due to a COVID-19 positive, and Knoxville native Stephen Bassett, who finished second in 2019, was sidelined by a crash in training. Still, it was a successful homecoming with a new champion, six riders in the top 20, and a fitting farewell to a past champion.