Press Release
Taking a ride on an up cycle
May 5, 2006
Today's Sunny King Criterium is not your father's Sunny King Criterium. It's not even last year's Sunny King Criterium. Pro-division cyclists will race around downtown Anniston for USA Cycling points, thanks to recognition on the National Racing Calendar this year. The races will conclude the new USA Criterium series, which has its own points system.
Little wonder that top teams like Jelly Belly Cycling and Toyota-United Pro Cycling will be among the jam-packed, 125-man field for tonight's pro men's race.
Organizers had to cut off pre-registration for the pro men's division last week, with the field having nearly doubled last year's total of 65 racers.
"As far as the competition, it might be one of the best, strongest races that you guys (Sunny King organizers) have had in the past couple of years," said 2004 winner Dave McCook, who rides for Jelly Belly.
Today's Sunny King Criterium will be the first prong of Anniston's annual cycling weekend. The 14th-annual Cheaha Challenge, a 102-mile ride from the Piedmont Civic Center to Mount Cheaha and back, starts Sunday at 7:30 a.m.
This year marks the fourth since organizers revived criterium races in Anniston. The day's slate will include everything from kids races up to pro men's and women's races. The pro women's race starts at 2:30 p.m., the pro men's at 7:30 p.m.
The Sunny King Criterium got several shots in the arm this year:
- It made USA Cycling's cut for the National Racing Calendar, becoming a points event.
- Gene Dixon, organizer for the 27-year-old Athens Twilight Criterium, created the USA Criterium series. It encompasses six races in Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama, including the Sunny King Criterium. The USA series has its own points system.
- International television has taken an interest in the USA series and will be here today in the form of London-based cycling.tv.
Those progress steps upped the ante for top pro teams.
"Being able to be part of the NRC is kind of like .. to be a recognized race, it's the best way to do it," McCook said. "All of the pros are going to come there to collect the points.
"Then, another thing is timing, as far as when the raced is placed."
Races in the USA series have grown up around the Tour de Georgia, a major road race that has drawn Lance Armstrong. Top teams are in the area, so local organizers from Athens to Walterboro, S.C., to Anniston have taken advantage.
The Sunny King Criterium marks the sixth and final event in the first year of the USA series, which Dixon wants to expand in future years. The series started with the Athens Twilight on Saturday, with stops in Roswell, Ga., Walterboro, Greenwood and Spartanburg, S.C. before today's race here.
Toyota-United, one of the hottest teams in cycling, has made its mark. Ivan Dominguez won in Walterboro and Greenwood and took second in Roswell. Teammate Juan Jose "J.J." Haedo, winner of the 2005 Sunny King Criterium, took second in Athens.
The Toyota-United team is in its first year. Owner Sean Tucker grabbed as many top riders as he could, with the goal of filling the void Armstrong left at cycling's mountaintop upon his 2005 retirement.
"With Lance gone, it provided us an opportunity to step up and do it in a very big way, which we've done, and give people ... or kind of draw their attention to us," said Frankie Andreu, the team's director and someone who knows about running elite teams.
Andreu captained the 1999 and 2000 United States Postal Service teams that propelled Armstrong to Tour de France victories.
Teams like Jelly Belly have tried to challenge Toyota-United. Jelly Belly ace rider Brice Jones finished second in Greenwood on Thursday.
"The Toyota team is probably the strongest one going right now," McCook said. "We're consistently right there, probably giving them, I would say, the most competition as far as always kind of being right there and making them race."
Other teams to watch today include Navigators Insurance Cycling. While not expected to send a full team, Navigators will have Athens Twilight winner Vassili Davidenko.
Colavita and Jittery Joe's, two top teams from last year's Sunny King Criterium, are expected to return.
"There are a lot of good teams that are showing up that I don't think have been showing up to the Alabama race in the past," McCook said. "Most of the teams showing up will have full squads. They'll have six to eight guys, and it will be really highly contested."
The Colavita team leads the way to victory in last year's Sunny King Criterium pro men's race in downtown Anniston. The team propelled world-class sprinter Juan Jose 'J.J.' Haedo to victory. Colavita and Haedo will be back today, but Haedo will race for Toyota-United Pro Cycling.