Eventual winner Daniel Patten (SmartStop p/b Mountain Khakis) leads the peloton at the 2013 Winston-Salem Cycling Classic road race(Image credit: Jon Safka)
Hannah Barnes wins the Charlotte criterium ahead of Erica Allar(Image credit: Weldon Weaver)
The men's peloton speed by the Georgia Theatre at Athens Twilight Criterium(Image credit: USA CRITS Series)
The women on the start line of the Winston-Salem Criterium on Saturday evening.(Image credit: David Gill/USA Crits)
The organisers of the USA Crits Championship Series announced a 10-race series for its 10th anniversary of top criterium racing for men and women across the country.
The 2016 series will kick off with a "completely overhauled" Tampa Criterium on March 19 followed by a new race in Clearwater, Florida the following week. Both races are promoted by the Florida Cycling Foundation and will also be part of the Sunshine Grand Prix.
The series then moves to North Carolina for the Charlotte Criterium on April 30, which is also part of the new unified USA Cycling national calendar dubbed the "American Protour". The Charlotte race also kicks off the USA Crits Speed Week series, which concludes with criteriums in Spartanburg, South Carolina and Athens, Georgia on May 6 and 7, respectively. Spartanburg and Athens are also part of the larger USA Crits series.
The Winston Salem Cycling Classic on May 29 continues the series, and is also part of the Protour calendar. The Glencoe Grand Prix in Illinois will be the seventh of the 10 USA Crits events on June 4. The Andersen/Banducci Twilight Criterium in Boise, Idaho on July 16 is race eight, another dual calendar event.
The final two races come in August, with the new Red Bank, New Jersey race and the classic Iron Hill Twilight in West Chester, Pennsylvania concluding the series.
The USA Crits series is independent of the USA Cycling Protour calendar, and has its own cash purses for men and women at each race. Riders earn points toward individual and team classifications and an overall series prize purse. Jerseys are awarded for overall leaders, series lap leaders and best young riders (under 25).
All of the vents will be streamed live with Frankie Andreu commentating, production by Weston Wheeler of Sport Stream Media and embedded statistics by Road-Results.com.
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2016 USA CRITS Championship Series March 19 - Sunshine Tampa Criterium - Tampa, FL March 26 - Sunshine Clearwater Classic Criterium - Clearwater, FL April 30 - Charlotte Criterium - Charlotte, NC May 6 - Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System Criterium - Spartanburg, SC May 7 - Athens Orthopedic Clinic Twilight Criterium - Athens, GA May 29 - Winston Salem Cycling Classic - Winston-Salem, NC June 4 - Glencoe Grand Prix - Glencoe, IL July 16 - Andersen/Banducci Twilight Criterium - Boise, ID August 6 - Red Bank Championship Cycling - Red Bank, NJ August 20 - 2016 USA CRITS CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES FINALS: - Iron Hill Twilight Criterium - West Chester, PA
