Cyclingnews presents The Bell Lap

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The Bell Lap series on Cyclingnews(Image credit: Jonathan Devich)

Cyclingnews is proud to bring our readers The Bell Lap, a new series for 2018 featuring the highly-skilled, brave, talented racers who live, every week, for the criterium. We're not talking the post-Tour de France spectacles where the results are startlingly skewed toward Grand Tour winners. No, this is adrenaline-fuelled, elbows-out, stomping-on-the-pedals-out-of-every-turn American-style criterium racing.

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The name of the series evokes the adrenaline-inducing sound indicating one lap to go and the addictive sensations that follow: Elbows hitting elbows, weight heavy on the outside foot as tyres push the limit of their grip in the turns, eyes keenly scanning for the right wheel - always moving forward and never back - and finally the rush of wind in your face as you come off the wheel to sprint - quads burning, lungs on fire - and lunge to the line.

It's been dubbed both 'the most insane criterium in the world' and '38 years of road rash' yet racers target it every year by the hundreds. Gene Dixon founded the event in 1980 as the first nighttime race in the US. This year the Athens Orthopedic Twilight Criterium opens the USA CRITS series. The course start-finish line is on Clayton Street at College Ave. The 1km loop runs clockwise, all right-hand turns, onto Clayton, Lumpkin, Washington and Thomas streets. The women will race for 40km, and the men will race for 60km.

The fifth event on the PRT, Rochester Criterium has become a well-known race on the American circuit in the last 10 years. It is held on a 1.6km figure-8 course with nine corners that winds through the southeast corner of Rochester's downtown. The start-finish is located on East Broad Street, running along a bridge that passes over the top of the Genesee River. The women will compete for 60 minutes followed by the men for 100 minutes.

The newest event of the series, Winston Salem Classic Criterium launched only six years ago. It is the first event of a double-header weekend that also includes the UCI 1.1 Winston Salem Cycling Classic. Organisers have changed the course over the years, and will soon announce the 2018 route, but it will likely take on a version of the most recent circuit; a short, rectangular loop that started and finished in the middle of a fast descent. The women's field will race for 75 minutes and the men for 90 minutes.

It is the most historic criterium in the US and known as "The Kentucky Derby of Cycling" - Tour of Somerville is part of a series of cycling events held in Somerset, New Jersey. Local bike store owner Fred Kugler started the event in 1940 and it has been held every year except the four years between 1943-1946 due to World War II. Kugler's son Furman won the first two editions and their family friend Carl Anderson won in 1942. Both men were killed while serving in the Armed Forces overseas. The race, held on Memorial Day Monday, gained huge popularity in the 1980s with Tour de France riders like Steve Bauer and Davis Phinney winning titles. The women's Mildred Kugler Open launched in 1976 with Karen Strong, Lauren van Gilder and Tina Pic winning it four times each.

Clarendon Cup has been known as one of the craziest criteriums in its 20-year history. It's technically demanding on a short 1km, figure-8 circuit held on narrow city streets. It is also a race of attrition as the men race for 100 laps (100km). The women will race for 50 laps (50km). But it takes place in July's scorching summer heat, and organisers have occasionally been forced to bend criterium rules and open a feed zone to supply water for the health and safety of its participants. Organisers are offering an equal prize purse at $10,000 for both men's and women's events.

The races will be routed on a 1.7km course with 40m of climbing and short hill leading into the last turn. The majority of the course if fairly open with a more technical final quarter. The finish will also be used for the road race, and has moved the Gay Street, in the heart of downtown. USA Cycling will also be allowing top Domestic Elite Team riders in for the men's race, and continue to open the women's race to Cat. 2.

Cycling Canada announced that due to a lack of municipal funding the national championships relocated from Kamloops, British Columbia to Saguenay, Quebec, and will be held from June 21-24. The announcement came weeks after organisers of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Saguenay cancelled their event due to reasons out of their control. The organising committee agreed to instead support the championship event this year. Cycling Canada will announce the criterium course, distances and schedule soon.

The Tour of America's Dairyland hosts 11 events held from June 21-July 1. Downer Classic is the penultimate round held on Milwaukee's Eastside. The Otto Wenz Cafe Hollander Downer Classic p/b IS Corp is a 4-corner 0.9 mile criterium. For 2018, the Pro 1/2 Women will race for 60 minutes and Pro 1/2 Men will race for 90 minutes. With over four decades of history and thousands of cheering fans, racers will enjoy an electric crowd and the rewards of the world famous Ben's Cycle Super Prime. In 2017, the $10,000 Super Prime was paid out equally to the winning female and male competitors.

Doctor Roger Sumner's idea of hosting a bike race in Gastown, a unique area of Vancouver filled with twisty cobblestoned streets, came to fruition in 1973, and a women's category followed in 1980. Now Canada's oldest one-day classic, the men's event has hosted riders Alex Steida, Davis Phinney, Mark McCormack and Svein Tuft over the years, and the women's event has captivated spectators with the likes of Alison Sydor, Clara Hughes and Ina-Yoko Teutenberg. The event is now part of the BC Superweek, nine races in ten days, held from July 6-15.

In its 20th edition, organisers call this criterium 'a nightclub on wheels', outdoors and under streetlights. Races are held on a 1km course in downtown San Rafael. The start-finish line is at 4th St, and the race runs clockwise on 4th St, D St, 5th St and A St. The women will race for 70 minutes and the men for 75 minutes. Past winners are a who's who of California racing, including Coryn Rivera and Jackson Stewart.

In its second year, the Reading Radsport Criterium offers a healthy prize purse of $20,000 and equal pay-outs for men and women, making it an attractive race during the peak of the season. Frequent lap prizes, incentives for the 'most consistent' rider, and a penultimate lap gambler's prime keeps the racing fast and furiuos. Last year's winners were Lauretta Hanson (UHC) and Shane Kline (Rally Cycling).

Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.

Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.

She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.