Vaughters started competitive cycling in the 1980s, racing in the
Red Zinger Mini Classics youth cycling series in Colorado. In 1997 he moved to John Wordin's Comptel Data team, entering races he described as "A thousand times easier than being in Europe." He had a successful season becoming US National Time Trial Champion, and was 3rd in the National Road Race. His successes led to him signing for
U.S. Postal Service cycling team. In 1999, he won the time trial of the
Dauphiné Libéré and finished 2nd overall to Alexandre Vinokourov after losing the general classification leadership on the final stage. He then went on to win the
Route du Sud in preparation for the
Tour de France as part of
Lance Armstrong's team that went on to
Armstrong's first win. In that Tour, he earned the nickname "El Gato" (The Cat in Spanish), having landed on his feet after being thrown headfirst over his handlebars in the first stage. In the second stage, he cut his chin in a crash and had to abandon the race. This started his reputation as a somewhat innocent victim in a long series of ill-timed crashes, with an uncanny knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. In 2000, Vaughters joined the French team
Crédit Agricole. In the early part of the season he was third in the Tour Méditerranéen, sixth in Paris-Nice and in the Critérium International. In June, he was fifth in the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, after placing fourth in the stage including Mont Ventoux. In July, he participated in the Tour de France and abandoned during the tenth stage after a fall on the descent of the Col de Marie-Blanque. In 2001, he won the time trial in the Dauphiné Libéré, and the
Duo Normand with teammate
Jens Voigt. During the Tour de France, he was part of the winning team in the team time trial. He was again forced to retire from the Tour, however, suffering from a wasp sting above his right eye during the 14th stage (the
UCI prohibited the use of cortisone injected intramuscularly or intravenously for the treatment of wounds, although it could be directly injected, e.g. for tendonitis). In 2002, he participated in his fourth and final Tour de France as a rider but failed again to reach the end of the race. He abandoned at the eleventh stage after falling in the descent of the
Col d'Aubisque. Following the abandonment, he requested and received the termination of his contract with Crédit Agricole which had been due to run until the end of 2003. He retired from racing, citing a desire to spend more time with his family. After returning to America he signed in 2003 for the U.S. team Prime Alliance 2003. He ended his career as a cyclist at the end of that year. Vaughters was a specialist
climber and was touted as a
Stage race specialist. He won the
Mont Ventoux stage of the
Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré in 1999 and 2001, and held the record for the fastest ascent until it was broken by
Iban Mayo in 2004. Vaughters also holds the Cycle To The Sun record time of 2:38 set in 1992 for climbing Haleakala volcano on Maui,
Hawaii. The record however has been unofficially beaten by
Ryder Hesjedal in 2010, who climbed the volcano in 2:32. == Managerial career ==