USA CRITS Series highlighted with three new events
December 17, 2019 – 2019 marks the 13th year of the USA CRITS Series, the premiere cycling series in the United States. Criteriums are the most spectator-friendly and enduring form of cycling racing in America. Locally originated events combine the highest levels of cycling with community gatherings and street festivals, while showcasing some of America’s most vibrant downtown districts.
New this year is the Salt Lake Criterium, to be held on July 20, 2019 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The SLCrit Organizing Committee announced their inaugural race, The Salt Lake Criterium. The event, which will include amateur and professional fields, is on the USA CRITS Series national calendar and will be held under a USA Cycling permit.
“Our state is no stranger to professional racing with the long-running Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah. As the Tour of Utah is an international UCI race inviting World Tour teams, we believe the Salt Lake Criterium is a great opportunity to bring domestic pros for this exciting short-course, NASCAR-style, event to our community,” said the race director, Eric Gardiner.
The Salt Lake Criterium will be the 6thrace on the 2019 USA CRITS Series calendar and expects to attract top pro teams from the women’s and men’s fields. Utah racer, Tiffany Pezzulo, who won the overall USA CRITS series in 2015 and 2017, is a proponent to bringing this series to Salt Lake City.
“I’ve always loved competing in USA CRITS events. The series sprint, lap, and young rider points keep the races animated, providing another dimension as racers chase points for individual and team titles. The hallmark USA CRITS racing is a fun course in a vibrant Downtown area with great opportunities for spectating at the local businesses along the course,” said Pezzulo, “Salt Lake City will be a great addition to the calendar.”
The Salt Lake Criterium sponsor list, to-date, includes Visit Salt Lake, DNACycling, Cotton Sox Photography, and Peak Fasteners Construction Supply. The race will take place at The Gateway, an open retail, office, and residential space in downtown Salt Lake City. The all-day event will take place to benefit the Utah Food Bank.
The 2019 Series season will also feature a new preseason event in Birmingham, Alabama. The Birmingham HammerFest will have a unique format in that it will serve as an opportunity for cycling media and teams to interact while gathering team marketing content at different scenic locations around Birmingham.
The Boise Twilight returns with their 33rd annual edition.
Eleven events across the United States will make up the 2019 USA CRITS calendar, landing in many of the country’s major cycling markets. The Colavita #racefororange will kick off the racing season with the inaugural Destination El Paso Criterium in Texas, the Salt Lake Criterium as mentioned previously, and Saint Francis Tulsa Tough returns after a several year hiatus. Full details regarding Series events will be available on USACRITS.com in January as well as the Series Finals location.
2019 USA CRITS Calendar
|
Race |
Date |
Location |
|
|
Preseason |
Birmingham HammerFest | March 16th | Birmingham, AL |
|
1 |
Destination El Paso Criterium | March 30th | El Paso, TX |
|
2 |
AOC Athens Twilight Criterium | April 27th | Athens, GA |
|
3 |
Winston-Salem Cycling Classic | May 25th | Winston Salem, NC |
|
4 |
Saint Francis Tulsa Tough-Blue Dome | June 7th | Tulsa, OK |
|
5 |
ASWB Twilight Criterium | July 13th | Boise, ID |
|
6 |
Salt Lake Criterium | July 20th | Salt Lake City, UT |
|
7 |
San Rafael Sunset Criterium | July 27th | San Rafael, CA |
|
8 |
Littleton Twilight Criterium | August 3rd | Littleton, CO |
|
9 |
Benchmark Twilight Cycling Classic | August 10th | West Chester, PA |
|
Finals |
Finals Announced 2019 | September | TBD |
Twenty-four of America’s elite men’s and women’s cycling teams will be invited to participate as USA CRITS D1 Teams. The Series will focus on these D1 Teams as they #racefororange. The Series will continue to offer a season purse and promote leaders across the Series. D1 teams will be announced January 17th.
“It is exciting to see three brand new events join the Series for 2019. We started 2018 with a goal of creating a more sustainable model for American road cycling and made great progress in that effort. We streamed more races than had ever been done in America. We saw an 11% participation increase in our events and created a new platform to allow a broader audience to engage the sport,” said Scott Morris, USA CRITS Director of Development.
For 2019, the Series will continue to focus on becoming a more team oriented model. There will be a priority on supporting the growth of more teams racing a national calendar through travel stipends, entries, and increased support from events for those D1 teams. There will also be expanded coverage of both teams and events via all media formats.
All USA CRITS Series events will be live streamed on USACRITS.tv. Not only will subscribing fans have access to the feature-packed event streams, but Video on Demand content will include D1 Team and rider components, race recaps, and full-length archived Series races.
Returning to support the Series for 2019 is Bikereg.com, the official registration and results partner, as well as Specialized and Colavita. New industry sponsors include Jakroo, Feedback Sports, and DeFeet. Other Series sponsors to be released in January.
Salt Lake Event details:
July 20, 2019 — The Salt Lake Criterium, USA Crits Series, Salt Lake City, UT, Professional and amateur categories, expo and more! Benefits the Utah Food Bank, Jared Eborn, 801-599-9268, [email protected], Eric Gardiner, 801-660-9173, [email protected], saltlakecriterium.com
Boise event details:
July 13, 2019 — ASWB Twilight Criterium, USA Crits, Boise, ID, 33rd Annual, Pro Road Tour, races for all categories, and race under the lights for the pros., Mike Cooley, 208-343-3782, [email protected], boisetwilightcriterium.com
About USA CRITS – Now in its 13th year, the USA CRITS Series is the premiere cycling series in the United States. USA CRITS was developed to feature criterium riders and to offer venues, teams and riders the ability to excel in a unique discipline of cycling. Starting in 2018, an effort to build the sport toward greater sustainability was taken on with the USACRITS.tv project. The events that form the USA CRITS Series showcase the ideals that make criterium racing an American legacy: challenging courses that showcase arts and entertainment districts, a large and growing base of spectators, broad community support, and strong marketing opportunities for partners. For details, see USACRITS.com
About the Utah Food Bank
For over 110 years, Utah Food Bank has stayed true to our objective of serving those in need throughout our state. We work tirelessly with community partners and volunteers to continue making an impact and fulfilling our mission of Fighting Hunger Statewide.
Last year, Utah Food Bank distributed 32.7 million meals via a statewide network of 149 partner agencies located in all 29 counties. In addition to being one of only a handful of food banks that distributes food free-of-charge to partner agencies, we also offer several direct service programs to help the most vulnerable populations in our state — children and seniors. By combining these direct service programs with our emergency food assistance services, we can truly impact the lives of Utahns who live in a world of food insecurity. As Utah’s only member of Feeding America’s nationwide network of more than 200 food banks, we are proud to be a part of the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief organization. www.utahfoodbank.org
