USA Cycling announced the national calendar for the 2020 Pro Road Tour (PRT), featuring 17 events across 15 states. Spanning April to September, the PRT schedule next year will include 43 days of road cycling competitions. New to the calendar this year is the Maryland Cycling Classic, a UCI 1.Pro event.
The PRT is comprised of the top road race events in the U.S. and is open to both professional and amateur cyclists. Events are a mix of quality criteriums, omniums, road races, stage races, and an individual time trial event. Individual and team champions are crowned at the conclusion of the calendar.
“As we enter into our fifth year of the Pro Road tour, we are looking forward to another strong year of pro racing in the United States. We believe that the races on our calendar, including a range of events including single day criterium racing all the way up to UCI Pro Series races at the Tour of Utah and the new Maryland Cycling Classic, exhibit the high caliber of racing that our racers and fans are looking for,” said Tara McCarthly, Director of National Events for USA Cycling, ” As we look towards the 2020 season, we will continue This Week in American Cycling and are excited to bring American racing to fans all over the world.”
PRT 2019 Overview:
- 17 events in 15 states
- 43 total days of racing
- 9 criteriums/crit omniums, 5 stage races, 2 UCI road races, and 1 UCI time trial
The calendar will kick off the first weekend of April with the first of four UCI stage races,The Joe Martin Stage Race in Fayetteville, Ark. This four-day stage race has a rich history dating back to 1978, and is one of the oldest stage race events in the U.S. The Alabama Cycling Classic in Anniston, Ala., follows and will be the first of 9 criteriums and criterium omniums on the calendar, scheduled for April 18-19.
Next the calendar heads west for the second UCI stage race – the Redlands Classic, followed by the 35th edition of the Tour of the Gila in New Mexico with five days of racing, April 29-May 3, 2019. The Wilmington Grand Prix, May 16, is a returning event on the PRT calendar this year. It will be the 13th year for the criterium, which is part of three days of cycling events in downtown Wilmington, Del.
Now a tradition for Memorial Day weekend, racing will be back in Winston-Salem, N.C. The Winston-Salem Criterium will be held under the lights on May 25, and is part of the The Winston-Salem Cycling Classic, a UCI road race for men and women, will take place Monday, May 25.
The following weekend, June 30-31, offers the Armed Forces Cycling Classic presented by The Boeing Company in Arlington, Virg. The calendar then travels North to New York for the MVP Health Care Rochester Twilight Criterium in Rochester, N.Y., returns on June 6, marking the third year in a row for the race. The three-day Saint Francis Tulsa Tough in Tulsa, Okla., will have a dedicated weekend, June 12-14. Back.
The second week of July, the PRT will be on the roads of Idaho. Friday, July 10, the only Individual Time Trial on the calendar returns – the Chrono Kristin Armstrong in Boise, Idaho. The following evening, downtown Boise will host the ASWB Twilight Criterium.
August features the UCI stage races, the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah for elite men and the Colorado Classic for elite women. The Tour of Utah will be held for a fifth year as a seven day, UCI 2.Pro stage race, Aug. 3-9. The event takes place across multiple host venues in the state. The Colorado Classic will be raced across multiple venues in Colorado as a four-day UCI stage race for women, Aug. 27-30.
September will bring us the newly created Maryland Cycling Classic, for Elite Men, the only UCI 1.Pro race in the U.S.
The final two events of the 2019 PRT schedule are criteriums – the Gateway Cup in Missouri and the Bucks County Classic in Doylestown Pennsylvania. The Gateway Cup, a criterium omnium, returns Labor Day weekend with four distance courses through four historic St. Louis neighborhoods. It is one of the longest-running cycling events in the country, entering its 35th year, and has been part of the USA CRITS Championship Series. The Bucks County Classic in Doylestown, Penn., which in its 16th running will cap the 2019 PRT season on Sept. 13.
USA Cycling works with race directors from across the country to create various calendars and series that feature bike racing across several disciplines and ability levels. Inclusion on these calendars often includes event support, rankings tabulation and additional promotion. For a full schedule of events and updated standings throughout the season, visit: www.usacycling.org/prt
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