Alejandro Borrajo (Team Jamis\Sutter Home) has a go at breaking things up. (Image credit: Todd Leister)
The United States of America domestic peloton is headed to the AirForce Cycling Classic for this weekend’s Clarendon Cup and Crystal City Classic, held in Arlington, Virginia. Clarendon Cup Defending Champions Alejandro Borrajo (Jamis-Sutter Home) and Erica Allar (Vera Bradley Foundation) will return to the start line for two days of fast criterium racing.
The Air Force Cycling Classic will provide two days of racing beginning with the National Racing Calendar (NRC) series Clarendon Cup criterium, formerly called the CSC Invitational. It is known as one of the fastest criteriums in the country, where the peloton is presented with a 100 lap race on a technical circuit.
“It is an important race because it is one of the best crits in the country and we are close to the lead the NRC as a team, so if we can get as many points as possible in the next two weeks that is good,” said Borrajo. “I feel good so I’m going to win tomorrow. For me the longer the crit the better.”
Fly V Australia currently leads the NRC series team competition and Borrajo’s teammate Luis Amaran tops the series’ individual ranking. On the women’s side Allar’s teammate Alison Powers leads the series and her team Vera Bradley Foundation sit as the best overall team.
The weekend of racing will continue the following day with the Crystal City Cup. The AirForce Cycling Classic’s organiser elected to step down from International Cycling Union (UCI)-sanctioning to bring the event back to its roots as a high-speed criterium for both the men and the women. Last year Shawn Mine (Team Type 1) won the men’s circuit race.
“The team wants to defend the AirForce Classic title and improve on our result in Clarendon Cup for the weekend,” said Team Type 1 rider Ken Hanson, who placed second at the Clarendon Cup to Borrajo last year. “We have a good team and we are going to fight to defend Shawn Milne's title for AirForce [Crystal City Cup]. It's difficult to comment on the UCI downgrade for the event. In any case we are excited the event is happening and we get to attend.”
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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.
