USA CRITS Championship Series Set to Start in South Florida

First Five Events and Overall Prize Purse Announced

For Immediate Release

Athens, GA - Early season criterium racing in warm climates sets the stage for the 2012 USA CRITS Championship Series. Starting in South Florida’s Delray Beach Pineapple Grove business district, the Series travels to Tucson, AZ, Charlotte, NC, and Athens, GA, before hitting St. Louis, MO for the mid-point of the Series. The Series is defining the standard for American criterium racing, with five great events getting the year rolling for both the men and the women. The final USA CRITS Championship Series schedule will be released by December 31 and will include ten events.

The kick-off event returns top-level racing to South Florida for the first time in years with the inaugural Delray Beach Twilight Criterium on March 10. The area hasn’t seen a major competitive cycling event in almost a decade, with the last major race in Florida being held in 2007 in Jacksonville. South Florida has a rich cycling culture, with two out of the five men’s USA CRITS champions currently residing or having lived there. “I am thrilled to have a major race back in South Florida so close to Miami,” says 2008 USA CRITS Champion and Miami resident, Yosvany Falcon, who will be racing with UCI Continental team Wonderful Pistachios in 2012. “I feel a lot of cycling fans not just in South Florida but from all over the state will head to Delray to see what USA CRITS can do, and I can’t wait to be a part of it.”

The following weekend will have the USA CRITS traveling circus heading out to the Southwest for the first time since 2009 to the Old Pueblo Grand Prix in Tucson, AZ on March 17. Erica Allar, the 2010 and 2011 USA CRITS Champion, calls Tucson home. “I am excited about the Tucson criterium coming together. They have a great support system here,” says Allar. “It will be fun to ‘kick-off’ the USA CRITS Championship Series as defending champion in my hometown.”

Following the Old Pueblo Grand Prix is a four-week break before the Series heads back to the Southeast. The Presbyterian Hospital Invitational Criterium, one of the founding events of the USA CRITS Championship Series, has found a new spring date in Charlotte on April 14. The earlier date will certainly make racers and spectators much happier, as the South’s oppressive summer heat will play less of a factor in 2012. Last year’s winners were Theresa Cliff-Ryan (Colavita/Forno d’Asolo), who won the race in both 2010 and 2011, and Jake Keough (UnitedHealthcare p/b Maxxis).

The South in the spring is all about the big criteriums. Two weeks following one of the richest races in the county is one of the biggest, best, and oldest nighttime criteriums in the US – the Terrapin Twilight Criterium in Athens, GA on April 28. Twilight has traditionally been the kickoff for the USA CRITS Championship Series and is a favorite among the racers and the thousands of spectators that flock to downtown Athens for this springtime tradition. Theresa Cliff-Ryan (Forno d’Asolo), who also won in 2010, and Luca Damiani (Kenda/5-Hour p/b Geargrinder) claimed victories in Athens in 2011.

The mid-point of the Series will take place on May 12 in the middle of the country at the Tour de Grove in St. Louis, MO. The Tour de Grove was on the USA CRITS Championship Series for the first time in 2011 and boasts the highest-paying, single-day race in Missouri. Last year’s wet and windy conditions coupled with the course’s difficulty made this an important race to do well in for the overall standings, and with its positioning as the mid-point of the Series, this makes it even more so in 2012.

Two items new to USA CRITS in 2012 are USA CRITS TEAM races and an overall prize purse for the men’s standings. USA CRITS TEAM races will add points to the overall TEAM standings only and will be held in conjunction with select USA CRITS Championship Series events. Six USA CRITS TEAM races are in the works, with the first being held in Roswell, GA the day after the Terrapin Twilight Criterium, followed by a second day in St. Louis surrounding the Tour de Grove. Points earned at both USA CRITS Championship Series events and TEAM races will be calculated into a team’s overall. More details can be found online at usacrits.com.

In addition to each event having combined men’s and women’s prize lists ranging from $15,000 to $75,000, the 2012 USA CRITS Championship Series will have a new year-long prize list awarded to individual men’s standings, as well as a separate purse with prizes being awarded to men’s teams based on TEAM standings. Combined, the overall Series prize lists are currently $25,000 and growing. USA CRITS is diligently working on creating a women’s Series prize list, as well.

A final and complete schedule of all ten USA CRITS Championship Series events and six USA CRITS TEAM races will be released before the New Year.

For More Information:
Ashley Travieso
ashley@gobike1.com
www.usacrits.com