Skylar Schneider (Miami Blazers) seems to be to go eight for eight with podium finishes on the ultimate spherical of the American Criterium Cup on Sunday in St. Louis, Missouri. Even and not using a victory within the Giro Della Montagna, it’s only a formality for the Miami Blazers rider to be topped the person girls’s champion.
Nonetheless, there’s nonetheless so much on the road for the ultimate items of the eight-race ACC prize purse that totals $100,000. The person prize cash goes 10 deep, with $44,000 divided equally amongst women and men. And from the general purse there’s one other $12,000 for the highest three ladies and men from mid-race dash classification factors.
On the boys’s aspect, REIGN Storm Racing riders Jordan Parra or Alfredo Rodriguez will declare the boys’s particular person title on the conclusion of the Giro Della Montagna on Sunday, whereas teammate Danny Summerhill has dominated the dash classification title for a second yr. No shock, they’re the highest males’s group as nicely.
Rylee McMullen (DNA Professional Biking) trails Skylar Schneider by one level within the factors classification and battles final yr’s girls’s winner Paola Muñoz (now with Goldman EFT Racing) for second general.
“I’m actually excited to race the ultimate ACC occasion with DNA, this sequence has been a spotlight for our group all yr. We’ve got a number of objectives for the weekend of racing and clearly Sunday’s ACC race is vital,” McMullen advised Cyclingnews.
“I’m simply coming off a stage race in Colombia, however I’m feeling good and excited to be again racing crits with a robust DNA squad. It’s been an thrilling sequence, particularly with the actually aggressive groups and my race inside the race with Skylar.”
The New Zealander is recent off the six-stage Vuelta a Colombia Femenina, the place she scored two prime 10s, together with second on stage 4, and helped teammate Nadia Gontova to second on GC. It’s one of many ultimate races for the DNA Professional Biking squad, because the group administration introduced the squad would fold on the finish of this yr after 12 years.
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Skylar Schneider has been probably the most constant of the ladies’s riders within the ACC, and he or she locked up the person ACC crown with the win at Littleton Twilight Criterium on August 3. Kendall Ryan (L39ION of Los Angeles) has probably the most ACC wins, three, and Kim Stoveld (Computerized ABUS Racing) received in her solely ACC look at Downer Traditional in Wisconsin, and each won’t be racing the Gateway Cup occasions.
Look ahead to Marlies Mejias (Virginia’s Blue Ridge Twenty24) to defend final yr’s victory within the Giro Della Montagna. She has solely competed in two different ACC races and received the IU Well being Momentum Indy in June.
McMullen has extra than simply the dash classification on the road. She seems to be to carry off Paola Muñoz (Goldman EFT Racing) from second-place general and assist DNA Professional Biking solidify their lead within the group standings forward of Miami Blazers. DNA is but to attain a race win and they are going to be going all out with the Kiwi sprinter McMullen in addition to US rider Makayla Macpherson, who’s fifth general and only some factors forward of Alexis Magner (L39ION of Los Angeles).
Professional males
For the boys, it’s all about REIGN Storm Racing, who may take all of the prizes of the 2024 ACC. Not solely has the group received 5 of the seven races with 4 completely different riders, they’ve additionally secured $22,500 of the ultimate ACC prize purse by fixed domination. Parra at the moment leads the general, having received Boise Twilight and posting podiums at 4 of 5 different races.
Alfredo Rodriguez, who was second general finally yr’s ACC on one other group, has a pair of wins and is second general. REIGN Storm riders Fergus Arthur and Bryan Gomez have been race winners as nicely.
Factors chief Danny Summerhill has two podiums and is a two-time males’s champion from Giro Della Montagna so could also be on the hunt for 3 in a row.
“I believe the power of the group speaks for itself if you learn off the listing of outcomes we’ve had this yr,” Summerhill, the 2023 ACC champion, advised Cyclingnews.
“I’ve loved being a part of a group with this a lot depth, talent and want to win the races we go to.”
Intelligent Martinez (Rockland Improvement), Lucas Bourgoyne (Austin Outlaws), Ben Oliver (Above + Past Most cancers Biking) and Noah Granigan (Miami Blazers) are in tight bunch combating for spots within the prime 5. Granigan and Bourgoyne each have third-place finishes in ACC occasions, so look to maneuver up.
For the boys’s group title, Austin Outlaws, Miami Blazers and Above + Past Most cancers are within the operating for podium positions behind REIGN Storm.
Race particulars
Giro Della Montagna is considered one of 4 races this weekend that make up the Bommarito Audi West County Gateway Cup, which has supplied a sequence of criteriums in St. Louis neighborhoods since 1986.
The four-corner, one-mile course is in a neighborhood close to St. Louis known as ‘The Hill, and it’s a hill that defines the circuit. Riders go throughout the highest of the punchy climb on the backstretch of the oblong route between corners two and three. This units up the ultimate two corners for the descent to the lengthy end straight on Marconi Avenue.
A livestream on the ACC YouTube channel will broadcast each ACC races on Sunday, starting at 4:00 p.m. CST for the elite girls’s race and ending at 7:20 p.m. CST when the elite males’s race has completed. The livestream, produced by Wild & Curious in St. Louis, will embody drone footage, a number of course-side digital camera positions and a brand new first-person POV commentary from former professional bike owner Daniel Holloway.
