USA Cycling selected Charleston, West Virginia as the host venue for the next five years for the US Pro Road National Championships, the 2024 event taking place May 15-19, 2024. A total of 18 stars-and-stripes jerseys will be up for grabs across time trial, road race and criterium disciplines for elite riders as well as under-23 and Junior 17-18 age categories for men and women.
“It’s been 20 years since we’ve seen this level of performance by American riders in the European peloton. This makes it the perfect time for USA Cycling to really invest in Pro Road Nationals and make it the ultimate week of road racing for American riders at all levels of the developmental pathway - Professional, U23, and Junior 17-18,” said Brendan Quirk, president and CEO of USA Cycling.
While a schedule of events has not been disclosed, it is expected that USA Cycling will keep the U23 and elite women’s fields combined in all three disciplines, with the under-23 podium determined from placings in the elite women’s fields. The UCI will create a separate U23 women’s category for World Championships in 2025, and USA Cycling told Cyclingnews they intend to follow suit with a dedicated race the same year.
In past years, the juniors and U23 men competed in separate events with US Amateur Road Nationals, last held in mid-June 2023 in Roanoke, Virginia. Junior 17-18 races for men and women and U23 men’s race were added to the calendar of championship races ‘in an effort to elevate the UCI categories on the national stage’, according to the statement from USA Cycling.
The Pro Road National Championships were held in Knoxville, Tennessee for the past seven years. The move keeps the event on the East coast and in hilly terrain without high elevation, approximately 300 miles north in the Allegheny range of the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia.
“We vetted several different venues and were extremely impressed by the challenging terrain and beauty of West Virginia’s capital city, as well as the capability of the local organizing committee led by the Charleston Convention & Visitors Bureau,” Quirk said.
The first year in Charleston is significant as it is an Olympic Games year, with the Paris Games set for July 26-August 11, 2024. The winners of the elite men’s and women’s time trial events at Pro Road Nationals will automatically qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the women and men competing on a 32.4km course on Saturday, July 27.
“Our goal for the qualifier in Charleston is to closely mimic the course riders will face in Paris. The 2024 Olympic Time Trial Course is 32.4 kilometers in length and is predominately flat,” said Jim Miller, USA Cycling’s Chief of Sport Performance.
Led by the Charleston Convention & Visitors Bureau with support from the City of Charleston, West Virginia, the contract for nationals will carry through to 2028 to make the state capitol an ‘epicenter’ for US cycling.
“We are thrilled to welcome the USA Cycling Pro Road National Championships to Charleston – starting in the Spring of 2024 – to experience our Capital City’s natural beauty and vibrant communities,” said Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin. “We look forward to working with the Charleston CVB and our cycling community in the months ahead to prepare for this national championship.”
