The way forward for elite {and professional} ladies’s street biking in the USA is at a crossroads. Regardless of main successes on the worldwide stage—Group USA’s feminine cyclists secured six Olympic medals at Paris 2024—the home racing scene is faltering. A shrinking race calendar, monetary instability and an absence of improvement alternatives have pressured a number of elite and continental groups to both fold or downsize.
Whereas among the nation’s prime cyclists safe contracts overseas, many up-and-coming riders battle to realize the expertise and publicity wanted to compete on the skilled stage.
To assist bridge this hole, attire firm JAKROO is once more launching a Ladies’s Composite Group, designed to supply aspiring feminine cyclists with entry to top-tier competitors which may in any other case be out of attain.
The corporate immediately opened its name for athletes for the invite-only 2025 Redlands Bicycle Traditional and Armed Forces Biking Traditional.
“One of many largest holes [in the U.S. race scene] is the shortage of groups and alternatives for race begins,” Kristen Arnold, a biking coach and present Ladies’s Improvement Highway Director for Group USA, informed Biking Weekly.
Arnold might be a part of the group’s management alongside Julie Kuliecza, a former skilled bicycle owner and Govt Director of the Amy D. Basis.
“It’s a struggling panorama. There are fewer ladies’s elite groups than there have ever been within the final ten years,” mentioned Arnold. “I personally know of a variety of riders which might be on the lookout for alternatives to race as a result of so many groups have folded, they usually do not have the means or capability to maneuver over to Europe and attempt to get on European groups. In order that they’re on the lookout for alternatives to race the U.S.”
JAKROO’s program goals to supply a much-needed alternative for each aspiring cyclists and veteran racers who’re discovering themselves and not using a group this season.
The races
The composite group’s first race alternative will are available in April on the Redland Bicycle Traditional. The California race is without doubt one of the longest-running stage races in the USA, with a historical past of 38 editions. The multi-day occasion options each difficult mountain levels and fast-paced city circuits, and attracts among the toughests competitors within the nation.
A second race alternative is available in early June on the 2025 Armed Forces Biking Traditional in Arlington, Virginia. First held in 1998, this hotly contested occasion consists of two days of high-speed criterium racing and is without doubt one of the uncommon alternatives for riders to earn some coveted UCI factors on U.S. soil.
Jakroo Ladies’s Composite Group
The appliance course of for being a part of the composite group is now open. Riders accepted into this system will obtain entry charges, housing, race attire, onsite race and logistical help and, in fact, the chance to realize beneficial expertise and publicity at two premier occasions within the nation.
Choice Standards & Eligibility:
riders should:
- Maintain a legitimate USA Biking Racing License (or UCI Worldwide Racing License)
- Be in good standing with USA Biking, UCI, U.S. Middle for SafeSport, and USADA
- Get hold of a Rider Launch Kind from their present group two weeks earlier than the occasion
- Meet the minimal class necessities (Cat 2 or 3) or present proof of an upcoming improve
- Submit a race resume with prime outcomes and supply two references
- Full the SafeSport Skilled Program with certification from the final 12 months
Utility will be discovered right here. Deadlines are:
- Redlands Traditional: Purposes due by February 25, 2025
- Armed Forces Traditional: Purposes due by April 17, 2025
