Introducing the 2024 American Criterium Cup
The American Criterium Cup (ACC) returned for its third season last weekend on night one of the Saint Francis Tulsa Tough in Oklahoma. The ACC calendar includes eight stops, from June to Labor Day Weekend, all across the country, and features the fastest criteriums in North America. On the line along the way are points, prize money, and, most importantly, immortal bragging rights for the riders who can best handle the corners, potholes, and bumps of America’s roads.
Many of the events on the calendar fall within a larger local series; however, only one race day at each stop is designated as an ACC event. For some events, like the Bailey & Glasser LLP Twilight Criterium in Boise, ID, and the Audi of Denver Littleton Criterium, in Colorado, all the action will focus on one night. For other stops, namely the two multi-week omniums of the Kwik Trip Tour of America’s Dairyland and the newly minted Chicago Grit, the ACC competition is just one of several thrilling races.
Nevertheless, with the added stakes of a cohesive nationwide summer-long series, there is bound to be something special at each race that will define the tally come the finale at the Bommarito Audi West County Gateway Cup in St. Louis, MO, on Labor Day Weekend.
As the ACC begins in earnest, here is a preview of what to expect from the races:
What is the American Criterium Cup?
The American Criterium Cup was originally conceived in 2022 as the premier criterium series in the United States. The series, which partnered with USA Cycling to serve as the professional road race calendar in the United States, will see a total prize purse of $500,000 divided equally between men and women across the races, with $100,000 awarded to the top teams and riders in the final ACC standings.
While the series is important, it is still the riveting individual criteriums that make up the calendar that provide the stage for the teams and racers who will thrill and entertain us all summer long.
Saint Francis Tulsa Tough – Friday, June 7 – Tulsa, Oklahoma
The ACC kicked off with the opening criterium of the infamous Tulsa Tough series. Friday night’s Blue Dome criterium offered a stacked race with the teams and riders hitting their summer peak as the temperature turned up. What’s more, with huge crowds for Friday night’s festivities, the atmosphere was as electric as any race in the U.S. The race is centered in Tulsa’s revitalized downtown Blue Dome district, and is defined by its eight turns set up as two separate rectangles over a 0.7 mile, relatively flat course. With the energy from the crowd, and the inertia of massive pelotons, the racing was flat out with attacks, and a massive sprint crescendo under the lights.
Kwik Trip Tour of America’s Dairyland – Saturday, June 22 – Milwaukee, Wisconsin
The Tour of America’s Dairyland is 11 races around the Milwaukee area. The series has been going strong for several years, but the crown jewel – the Downer Avenue Criterium – is 45 years old and is the perfect platform for a flat-out race in one of Milwaukee’s historic neighborhoods. The course is straightforward, with a lap that is essentially a triangle with two back-to-back turns coming right before the finish line. It will be hotly contested as ACC points begin to establish a pecking order in the hunt for the overall series standings. Additionally, the race will be filled with mid-race cash primes totaling $10,000 split evenly between the men’s and women’s races.
Bailey & Glasser LLP Twilight Criterium – Saturday, June 29 – Boise, Idaho
Boise Twilight is a standalone event on the calendar around the Idaho Capitol. Having only one night of racing consolidates all the excitement and energy into a single evening. What’s more, the race always sets the bar in terms of speed as it is historically the fastest on the professional calendar. That speed, which comes from the thin dry air of Boise, paired with wide sweeping turns, makes this one of the most difficult courses to stick a breakaway. This makes the race the ultimate sprinters classic. While nothing in bike racing is a guarantee, the final sprint, and battle between the leadout trains, makes this one of the standout spectacles of the series.
LHM|CC Salt Lake Criterium – Sunday, July 7 – Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the newest of the top criteriums in the United States, at only five years old; however, the race has made its impression with exciting venues in a great cycling city. The Salt Lake City race is one of three weekends on the calendar with two professional criteriums, including the Sunday ACC race in the Salt Lake City suburb of Sandy. The course is a lap around the Real Salt Lake MLS squad’s stadium with fewer technical features but more of an emphasis on speed. The course is noteworthy for its long straightaways and sweeping bends. While conventional wisdom suggests that the course is conducive to a sprint, it all depends on if teams are willing and able to control the attacks for a sprint finish.
IU Health Momentum Indy – Friday, July 12 – Indianapolis, Indiana
Momentum Indy is a two-criterium weekend that descends on Indiana’s capital city in the middle of July. With the city’s rich cycling history as Major Taylor’s hometown, and the base for key players in the cycling industry like SRAM, Zipp, and Silca, the Indianapolis stop is a can’t-miss opportunity. The Friday ACC race at Mass Ave. is a 0.6-mile 5-corner “bow tie” that offers tight bends on turns one and five. It is a course for punchy sprinters as the technical nature of the circuit demands serious bike driving skills, and a little bit of luck. The course’s technical nature stretches the peloton to the breaking point with sprints often being decided by a significantly diminished peloton.
Chicago Grit – Saturday, July 27 – Chicago, Illinois
Chicago Grit is a new name for one of the most well-established criterium series in the country— the former Intelligentsia Cup. With ten races around the greater Chicagoland area, the series offers ten day’s of racing opportunities around a centralized location with some of the best food, weather, and spectators. The main event at Chicago Grit will be the American Criterium Cup stop at the Lake Bluff Criterium on the second Saturday of the series. The course is an intriguing six-corner lap around the cute downtown stretch complete with a bandstand gazebo in the suburb of Lake Bluff. It features narrow roads, a couple of tight bends, and many opportunities for breakaways to steal off the front. While each of the races has its own charm, Lake Bluff is a consummate neighborhood block party near the end of a long block of racing in the heat of the Chicago summer.
Audi Denver Littleton Criterium – Saturday, August 3 – Littleton, Colorado
The Littleton Criterium is the last of the Mountain West trio of stops and offers an opportunity for Colorado’s finest to put on a show. The course, which is situated in the heart of one of Denver’s most popular suburbs, is surrounded by restaurants and shopping venues, and spectators. The race itself is a conventional six-turn L-shaped course with a long finishing straight following the final turn. The course is just under 0.8 miles and flat, although the altitude of the “Mile High City,” does create a different dynamic. Ultimately, the race tends to favor the sprinters, however, there is always room for a surprise, especially as local riders have the benefit of knowing how to give their all where the air is thinner.
Bommarito Audi West County Gateway Cup – Sunday, September 1 – St. Louis, Missouri
The season finale is definitely worthy of its status as the curtain closer— “The Hill,” or as the locals call it— the Giro Della Montagna. St Louis is a city renowned for its neighborhoods. The four-day event’s flagship race on Sunday calls one of the city’s historically Italian neighborhoods home, delivering an intense sense of heritage, quaint brick homes, excellently manicured lawns, and vibrant crowds. On paper, the course is like several others with the lap featuring four corners over one mile. Nevertheless, as the name suggests, the race is defined by the hill that takes riders to the top of the course around turn three, before they plunge back down to the long finish straight. The Hill is a great example of how not all four-corner criteriums are created the same and should provide a fascinating cap to a great summer season of racing.
How does the series work?
The ACC awards a season-long cash prize to the top riders and teams. All the events have equal points up for grabs and there will be no races dropped. Points run 15 places deep which means consistency will be vital for anyone with the hopes of securing the final prize. In the end, the series will be decided simply by the sum total of each rider’s and team’s total point total at the end of The Hill.
In addition to the overall standings, there is also the fight for the mid-race sprint classification which awards points for the top three riders crossing the line on a lap specified by the event beforehand. Those individual sprint points are weighted towards the end, with the races later in the season having more sprint points up for grabs.
