USA Cycling on Thursday announced its 2014 USA Cycling National Track Calendar (NTC). The event spans five events at velodromes nationwide beginning on May 17 with the Matrix Track Cup p/b Richardson Bike Mart at the Superdrome in Frisco, Texas, before culminating with the Los Angeles Grand Prix at the VELO Sports Center in Carson, Calif.
The calendar’s second event is the Midwest Challenge which will be held June 13-14 at the Major Taylor Velodrome in Indianapolis. The country’s best track sprinters will contest the U.S. Grand Prix of Sprinting in July at the Velodrome at Memorial Park in Colorado Springs, Colo. On July 25-26, the riders will head to the Pacific Northwest to compete in the Marymoor Grand Prix at the Marymoor Velodrome in Redmond, Wash. The calendar’s final event will be at the VELO Sports Center in Carson, Calif., where riders will compete in the Los Angeles Grand Prix.
“We are extremely excited about this year’s NTC,” National Events Manager Tony Leko said. “The fact that each of the events are inscripted by the UCI means we will have even higher caliber racing this year than before. It should bring out the best track racers in the country chasing points on the NTC.”
In 2013, USA Cycling crowned four riders who topped the final NTC standings. Zachary Kovalcik (Portland, Ore./Sizzle Pie Cycling p/b Veloforma) repeated as the men’s endurance winner while Andrew Carlberg (Bryan, Texas/Team Spincycle) won the men’s sprint standings. On women’s side, Sarah Hammer (Temecula, Calif./United Performance) ranked highest in the endurance standings while Melissa (Missy) Erickson (Alexandria, Minn./Momentum Coaching Group p/b Atomic) was the top sprinter.
The endurance riders will compete in the points race, scratch race, individual pursuit, Madison and team pursuit. The sprinters will contest the match sprint, time trial and keirin.
The schedule below includes which races will be contested at the various events:
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2014 National Track Calendar |
ENDURANCE | SPRINT | |||||||||
| EVENT | DATE | LOCATION | P | S | IP | TP | M | MS | TS | K | TT |
| Matrix Track Cup p/b Richardson Bike Mart | May 17-19 | Superdrome, Frisco, TX | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
| Midwest Challenge | June 13-14 | Major Taylor Velodrome, Indianapolis, IN | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
| U.S. Grand Prix of Sprinting | TBD July | Velodrome at Memorial Park, Colorado Springs, CO | X | X | X | ||||||
| Marymoor Grand Prix | July 25-26 | Marymoor Velodrome, Redmond, WA | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Los Angeles Grand Prix | TBD (Sept./Oct.) | VELO Sports Center, Carson, CA | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||
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Ron Callahan is the chief cook and bottlewasher at Bike World News, doing everything from website design to bike reviews.