Dombrowski, right, during stage six of the USA Pro Challenge between Golden and Boulder, Colo. in August 2012. (Getty Images/Doug Pensinger)

The road ascending to the Wintergreen ski resort south of Charlottesville, Va. climbs over six miles to the summit, pitching at times to gradients approaching 14 percent. In a 2010 competition, an 18-year-old named Joe Dombrowski biked the length of the road in just over 32 minutes, coming in just shy of a course record but besting the second-place finisher—and professional mountain biker—Jeremiah Bishop by two minutes. In the world of amateur competitive cycling, it was a fast ascent. The following year, though, Dombrowski one-upped even himself, setting a course record by climbing the same stretch in just over 30 minutes—a very speedy ascent.

Since then, Dombrowski’s career as a cyclist has climbed through the world rankings about as quickly as he scaled the road to Wintergreen. From his first mountain bike races in 2008 to a barnstorming career through the Mid-Atlantic amateur road cycling circuit, Dombrowski has become a top-tier international professional. While only two years ago he could be found lining up at local races, this year he’s been picked to help a Tour de France winner conquer one Europe’s toughest stage races.

Dombrowski, who hails from just outside Marshall, Va., stands 6-feet-2-inches and weighs about 150 pounds. His legs hardly seem sculpted for the the daily rigors of professional cycling, and his humble demeanor reflects his young age—he graduated from Fauquier County High School in Warrenton in 2009. But from his first local race in early 2010, Dombrowski demonstrated a raw talent that’s rarely seen—and was quickly noticed.

In 2011, he was invited to join Trek-Livestrong (now Bontrager-Livestrong), an Austin-based under-23 development team started by Lance Armstrong and managed by Axel Merckx, a former professional cyclist and the son of five-time Tour de France winner Eddy Merckx. (The team also produced another local pro: Ben King, who currently rides for RadioShack/Leopard/Trek.)

In his two seasons with the Livestrong team, Dombrowski went toe-to-toe with seasoned professionals: In the 2012 Amgen Tour of California, he finished fourth in the grueling seventh stage to the peak of Mount San Antonio overlooking Los Angeles, and he was named Best Young Rider at the U.S. Pro Challenge in Colorado last August.

Dombrowski as he won a stage—and the overall title—at the 2012 Baby Giro in Italy. He was the first American to ever win the race.

And while some of the world’s top teams had started to take notice early on, interest spiked after Dombrowski won the Baby Giro, an under-23 international-level stage race in Italy, as part of the U.S. national team. His win wasn’t only a personal best, but also represented the first time in the race’s history that an American had won.

“After California I was starting to get more interest from different teams, and then went over to Italy and raced the Baby Giro with the U.S. National Team. When I came back home from that, that’s when it got crazy,” Dombrowski says in a phone interview. “Basically, all the teams came to me. It was definitely not the normal neo-pro sort of transition where you have one or two offers and end up going where you can get a spot. It was basically…almost every World Tour team had gotten in contact and was interested.”

Last August, Dombrowski chose to join Sky Pro Cycling, a U.K.-based team that’s home to Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome, who placed first and second respectively in the 2012 Tour de France. And late last year, he picked up and moved to Nice, France, the team’s training base.

“For me, I wanted an English-speaking team that was progressive. I wanted one that ethically had a strong stance. That really helped me narrow it down,” Dombrowski says, referring to the team’s strict anti-doping stance. (Sky recently fired an American coach who admitted to having doped when he rode with Armstrong in the mid-90s.)

And though Dombrowski admits that the transition to living abroad as a professional cyclist has been a daunting one, the team has tried to make it as easy as possible for him. “Both on and off the bike they’ve been great at facilitating that transition,” he says. “They’ve really been good about taking care about all the life changes that come with moving to a new country.”

If living in Europe for the first time wasn’t challenging enough, in late December Dombrowski was presented with a more formidable task: joining the squad that would help Wiggins in the 21-stage Giro d’Italia, one of the three Grand Tours in professional cycling. (The other two are the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España.) The Italian race kicks off on May 3.

“I did not expect to do the Giro,” he says. “I didn’t really even expect to do a Grand Tour. I kinda ruled out the Giro because it’s too early, there’s no way they’re gonna put me in that early, there’s no way they’re gonna have me to do the Giro if Wiggins is gonna go try to win. It’s exciting, but it’s a little bit daunting, I guess.”

Dombrowski joins the pro peloton at yet another tough time for the sport. After seemingly cleaning ups its act, professional cycling is reeling from yet another doping scandal, this one involving Armstrong and many of the United States’ other celebrated cyclists from the past decade. (Armstrong has had his seven Tour de France titles and has been banned from the sport for life; he is said to be weighing a full confession.)

Though this latest scandal has upended cycling once again, it’s also old news: the systemic doping took place during Armstrong’s reign, and since then teams have committed to stricter controls and tests of their riders. And though Dombrowski joins a new generation of professional U.S. cyclists, many of whom were still in middle school during the worst of Armstrong’s doping, he still recognizes the baggage the sport has been saddled with.

“I always feel like I am being associated with [the past], and I feel like this sport that I participate in and I love is being associated with that as though it’s a blanket statement, that everyone’s the same and it’s still that way,” he says. “I can see in the eye of the public. It’s understandable that people think that everyone’s a doper.”

“A lot of things have changed,” he continues. “Obviously, people can say what they want, but there’s a lot of physiological data pointing to the fact that despite better training, better nutrition, better equipment that guys just aren’t as fast anymore. On mountain-top finishes guys are going a minute slower on bikes that are a kilogram lighter. That says a lot.”

“Are guys still doping? I’m sure it’s still out there to some degree. With anything, people are going to cheat. But I think the degree by which guys can cheat by now and get away with it is pretty small,” he adds.

Dombrowski may not be the last local to rise to the pro ranks, either: Nate Wilson, who hails from Arlington, was recently selected to join Bontrager-Livestrong for the upcoming season.

While Dombrowski is more likely to be found scouring the roads of southern France from now on, he still has fond memories of his time training and racing in Virginia and Maryland.

“I think it’s great, and the community of people has been friendly and supportive,” he says.” Ever since I’ve progressed out of that local scene and continued on my path, it’s been cool to come back home and do a local race or watch a local race and see some of the people back at home again.”

Full Disclosure: I raced against Dombrowski once, in 2010. I use the term “race” lightly, as he won so easily that there wasn’t much of a contest.