Now in its 36th edition, the Tucson Bicycle Classic announced the US domestic stage race will move a week earlier on the calendar, taking place in southern Arizona February 23-25, 2024.
Organisers of the early spring event for pros and amateurs said the February dates were ‘for better placement on the national race calendar’. The first weekend of March, athletes can now participate in Belgian Waffle Ride Arizona, held for a second edition from Cave Creek, 140 miles north of Tucson. The other area race is the Valley of the Sun stage race, which will be the weekend prior to TBS on February 16-18, 2024.
Details of the three days of racing in Tucson were not announced. In 2023, the prologue at Pistol Hill and the circuit race in the Oro Valley both used new courses, while the traditional road course on Saturday provided a 20.5-mile (33km) circuit in Green Valley. Tyler Stites (Project Echelon Racing) won the men’s pro title at last year’s Tucson Bicycle Classic, and Kira Payer (Cardinal Classic Cycling) won the women’s pro overall.
The BWR Arizona will be part of a 2024 Tripel Crown of Gravel, organised by Monuments of Cycling, serving as the lead-off event. It will be followed by BWR Utah in Cedar City on April 6 and BWR California in San Marcos on April 28. This season, a points-based omnium format was held among all seven BWR rides for a Quadrupel Crown, with the BWR Kansas and BWR Mexico remaining on the schedule to determine overall winners.
American Criterium Cup confirms eight races in 2024
Danny Summerhill (ACG) secured the men's overall title of 2023 American Criterium Cup at round nine in Indianapollis (Image credit: American Criterium Cup 2023)
Eight events will return for the third season of the American Criterium Cup, a series of independent, well-established one-day races for men and women across the US. Beginning with the Blue Dome Criterium that is part of Saint Francis Tulsa Tough in Oklahoma on June 7, the lineup replicates the 2023 schedule, with the series finale on September 1 at the Gateway Cup in Missouri.
The ACC has incorporated a total of 10 events each of the past two years, with a southern swing last year, including Athens Orthopedic Clinic Twilight in Georgia in April and Sunny King Criterium in Alabama in May. A final schedule will be confirmed by organisers in the coming months.
Danny Summerhill (American Cycling Group) and Paola Muñoz (Miami Nights) won the 2023 ACC individual titles. Alfredo Rodriguez (Miami Nights) was second overall for pro men but could not overtake Summerhill, who had three ACC race victories and four top 5’s. In the women’s overall, Miami Nights went one-two, with Andrea Cyr finishing runner-up.
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Summerhill also a double winner with the sprint classification overall and American Cycling Group made it a sweep in the series by winning the men’s team competition. Kimberly Lucie of DNA Pro Cycling scored a dominant victory in the women’s sprint classification, while L39ION of Los Angeles took the women’s team competition.
American Criterium Cup 2024 schedule
June 7 - Saint Francis Tulsa Tough, McNellie’s Group Blue Dome Criterium, Tulsa, Oklahoma
June 22 - Kwik Trip Tour of America's Dairyland, Historic Downer Avenue BID, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
June 29 - Bailey & Glasser Twilight Criterium, Boise, Idaho
July 6 - Salt Lake Criterium, Salt Lake City, Utah
July 12 - IU Health Momentum Indy, Indianapolis, Indiana
July 27 - Intelligentsia Cup, Lake Bluff, Illinois
August 3 - Audi Denver Littleton Twilight Criterium, LIttleton, Colorado
September 1 - Bommarito Audi Gateway Cup, St. Louis, Missouri
September 1 date set for 2024 Maryland Cycling Classic
The Maryland Cycling Classic, presented by UnitedHealthcare, will return as a ProSeries men’s race for its third year on September 1, 2024. With the distinction as the highest-ranked UCI race in the US, the one-day event has been contested between Sparks and Baltimore, Maryland, covering 121 miles (196km).
Six WorldTour teams were part of the 16-team field this past year, which produced five of the top six riders, including race winner Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) of Denmark. US rider Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) finished second, while Canadian Hugo Houle (Israel-Premier Tech) captured third ahead of Australian Lucas Hamilton (Jayco-AlUla).
“It was an awesome setting. I hoped to win this year, but I am happy with the podium,” said Powless, who was third in the 2022 race. “It was fun to interact with the American fans because I don't get to do that at any other point in the year. I was really proud to have the opportunity here and feel that love the whole way around the course.”
Organisers estimated that the 2023 edition attracted 80,000 spectators, with the focus of in-person viewing in downtown Baltimore, Maryland for the race finish. With an enhanced live broadcast using a helicopter film crew, organisers said close to 800,000 viewers tuned in via GCN+ for the international feed and Maryland Public Television for regional US television.
Jackie has been involved in professional sports for more than 30 years in news reporting, sports marketing and public relations. She founded Peloton Sports in 1998, a sports marketing and public relations agency, which managed projects for Tour de Georgia, Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and USA Cycling. She also founded Bike Alpharetta Inc, a Georgia non-profit to promote safe cycling. She is proud to have worked in professional baseball for six years - from selling advertising to pulling the tarp for several minor league teams. She has climbed l'Alpe d'Huez three times (not fast). Her favorite road and gravel rides are around horse farms in north Georgia (USA) and around lavender fields in Provence (France), and some mtb rides in Park City, Utah (USA).
