November 7/06 11:01 am - USA Cycling Announces 2007 National Road Calendar

Posted by Editor on 11/7/06
 

USA Cycling Announces 2007 National Road Calendar
Courtesy USA Cycling

A total of $1.5 million is up for grabs to elite-level cyclists next year as USA Cycling announced plans for its 2007 National Racing Calendar. Entering its 11th season, next year's USA Cycling National Racing Calendar includes 41 events across 19 states and will crown the top domestic-based individuals and teams in the United States.

Beginning Feb. 24 with the women's-only Santa Clarita Grand Prix in California, the 2007 National Racing Calendar stretches seven months and ends on Labor Day with the U.S. 100K Classic in Atlanta, Ga. The season-long series represents the top Pro-Am races in the nation open to both professional and club-level teams alike and features all disciplines of road racing including stage races, criteriums, time trials and single-day road races.

"The 2007 National Racing Calendar is one of the best in the history of American cycling," commented USA Cycling chief executive officer Steve Johnson. "The response to the bid process was overwhelming this year and reflects the continued growth and interest in top-level bike racing in this country. Our goal with the National Racing Calendar is to continue to raise the bar and the expectations for this level of racing. In spite of the fact that there were several candidates that we ultimately had to turn down despite strong applications, we still increased the number of national-level events to 56 when you factor in the USA Cycling Professional Tour. Collectively, it's one of the largest national calendars we have ever developed."

New to the 2007 National Racing Calendar are seven events ˆ the Santa Clarita Grand Prix, the Tour of Virginia (formerly known as the Tour of Shenandoah), the Crystal City Classic in Arlington, Va., the Infineon Technologies Cougar Mountain Classic Criterium and Circuit Race in Sonoma, Calif., the Hanes Park Classic in Winston-Salem, N.C. and the USA Crits SE Series. A new concept in 2007, the USA Crits SE Series is a seven-race series of criteriums in Georgia and South Carolina that is comprised of two National Racing Calendar incumbents ˆ the Athens Twilight Criterium and the Nalley Roswell Criterium ˆ as well as races in Walterboro, Ga. and South Carolina stops in Greenwood, Spartanburg, Anniston and Decatur. The seven events will be part of an omnium format that crowns an overall winner similar to the International Cycling Classic in Wisconsin.

Three USA Cycling Elite National Championships are also included on the calendar. Returning to Seven Springs Resort in Champion, Pa. as part of the USA Cycling National Festival, the men's and women's road and time trial championships are scheduled for July 11-15. The criterium championships return to Downers Grove, Ill. August 19.

Nearly $1 million is on the line for the men who will be competing for a total of $964,000, while the women will compete for a $586,000 prize purse.

The most heavily-weighted events on the 2007 calendar include the three 1.1-ranked USA Cycling National Championships as well as the 2.1-ranked Nature Valley Grand Prix and International Tour de 'Toona stage races.

The 2007 National Racing Calendar includes two stand-alone time trials, three omniums, seven one-day road races, 11 stage races, and 18 criteriums.

The most notable change to the 2007 calendar is the absence of several top-level international events such as the AMGEN Tour of California, the Tour de Georgia and the Commerce Bank International in Philadelphia. Those events, along with many others, are part of the previously announced USA Cycling Professional Tour, a 15-race series of internationally-sanctioned world-class events.

The 2006 USA Cycling National Racing Calendar concluded with Floyd Landis (Murietta, Calif./Phonak) and Kristin Armstrong (Boise, Idaho/Team Lipton) taking the individual honors while the Health Net Pro Cycling Team presented by Maxxis was named the top men's team and TEAm Lipton captured the women's team crown.

2007 USA Cycling National Racing Calendar