Sho-Air Cycling Group and USA Cycling announce five rounds
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Katerina Nash (Luna Pro Team) and Geoff Kabush (Scott-3Rox) don the USA Cycling US Cup leaders' belts atop the podium at the Fontana race(Image credit: Brian Hodes / VeloImages)
Men’s Elite overall series winner Geoff Kabush (Scott 3 Rox Racing) with his US CUP title belt in Colorado Springs, round 4 of the USA Cycling US Cup Series presented by Sho-Air Cycling Group(Image credit: Phil Beckman / PB Creative)
Katerina Nash (Luna Pro Team) wins the elite women's race at Bonelli Park, round 2 of the USA Cycling US Cup Series presented by Sho-Air Cycling Group(Image credit: Brian Hodes / VeloImages)
After a successful first season in its new format, the USA Cycling US Cup Pro Series presented by Sho-Air Cycling Group will go into its second year in 2015 with four familiar venues and one new addition as the Sea Otter Classic will be joining the series. The Fontana, Bonelli and Colorado Springs rounds have also been awarded HC status by the UCI.
The US Cup series will kick off on March 14 with the Bonelli Park C1 event. This will be followed up the next weekend at Fontana City for an HC event on March 21. Three weeks later on April 11, Bonelli Park will return to the schedule with its HC event being held one week before the Sea Otter Classic (a UCI C3 event) on April 18. The overall champions will once again be crowned in Colorado Springs on June 27 at the UCI HC-rated finale near the USA Cycling headquarters.
"The Bonelli, Fontana and Colorado Springs events will be modern UCI cross country formats," said Scott Tedro, owner of the Sho-Air Cycling Group. "While Sea Otter is a throwback to the classic cross country courses that today are closer to the marathon style of racing. We are so excited to add this legendary event and I want to personally thank Jeff "Frosty" Frost and Frank Yohannan for their continued contributions to the sport of mountain biking. I would also like to thank both Cannondale and Kenda for their generous contribution and belief in American cross country racing. This would not have been possible without their backing."
"This is great news for mountain biking in the U.S.", said Dave Manchester, Vice President of North American Sales for Cannondale. "We're excited to play a role in this renewed growth in American racing."
Sea Otter's Jeffrey Frost said, "We have had a long-term successful relationship with Scott Tedro, and are thrilled to see this successful US Cup continue. We're proud to include Sea Otter as a part of this series."
The addition of Sea Otter further enhances the international profile of the event as it will now offer UCI points.
"I'm looking forward to starting my season under the Californian sun," said three-time cross country world champion Nino Schurter. "The feedback in the racing scene of last year's US Cup was excellent. I was at Sea Otter when I was a young under 23 rider, and it's great to be back."
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Schurter's team manager and mountain bike legend Thomas Frischknecht had similar thoughts on the announcement. "I'm delighted cross country racing in the US is coming back so strongly. It is so important for the sport of mountain biking to have races in the country where the sport was born. As I did all of the Sea Otter Classic in the early days, I'm looking forward to coming back."
"I would like to thank Scott and his team at Sho-Air for their extraordinary support of the series," said USA Cycling CEO and President Steve Johnson. "We are thrilled to see the US Cup Series grow in both stature and number as we head into the second year of competition. To have three of the events awarded HC status adds even more prestige to the series and we look forward to hosting the final race once again in the hometown of USA Cycling's headquarters, Colorado Springs."
Once again, the US Cup will offer flag-to-flag live streaming of the women's and men's elite races, to be hosted on USA Cycling's YouTube channel. Also, the rich and equal payout for women and men elite prize purse and UCI points on offer will bring some of the best cross country mountain bike racers in the world to race the series.
"I'm really excited to toe the line again against an international field," said Olympic bronze medalist Georgia Gould. "The equal prize money helps to attract a top notch women's field. I want to race against the best, and to be able to do that in the U.S. is really extraordinary."
Other items, like the coveted MMA-style championship belts, custom designed trophies, and handsome leaders' jerseys will remain, while one more important addition will be launched in 2015.
"The Bonelli HC and Colorado Springs races will now run UCI Junior categories," explained Tedro. "We see this as an important addition to provide a step for those young athletes who are looking to make that bold move towards a professional career."
The 2014 US Cup series was won by Katerina Nash (Luna) and Geoff Kabush (Scott-3Rox)
Regional series
Sho-Air Cycling Group also announced the continuation of the popular eight-round Kenda Cup West series, along with the exciting addition of the new five-race Kenda Cup East series.
"We've heard the cries from the East Coast mountain bike community," said Tedro. "And I'm proud to announce this series. It will feature five races in New England, one of which will be a USA Cycling Pro XCT and UCI category C1 event. More details to come, but we're excited to bring this level of racing to a new audience."
2015 USA Cycling US Cup March 14: Round 1 - Bonelli Park, San Dimas California (UCI Category C1) March 21: Round 2 - Fontana, Fontana City, California (UCI Category HC) April 11: Round 3 - Bonelli Park, San Dimas, California (UCI Category HC) April 18: Round 4 - Sea Otter Classic, Monterey, California (UCI Category C3) June 27: Round 5 - Colorado Springs, Colorado (UCI Category HC)
