Pro/1 Men Weekend Preview
The inaugural American Criterium Cup kicks off Saturday with the King of All Crits
Well gang, here we go. The time for pre-season prognostication is over. The instagram hashtags are going to change quicker than the seasons. No more #critsiscoming. Oh no, #critsishere folks, crits is here.
This Saturday marks the official beginning to the 2022 criterium season with the 20th edition of the King of All Crits: the Alabama Cycling Classic, on the streets of downtown Anniston, Alabama. This year’s Alabama Cycling Classic also marks the beginning of the brand new American Criterium Cup - a national series of 10 races, initially announced by USA Cycling back in January, that boasts an overall prize purse of $100,000. While we here at the Chronicle are hopeful that prize purses of that level become the standard for American cycling, it is still objectively a head-turning amount and bound to motivate the best crit squads around to criss-cross the nation in pursuit of their un-fair-share of that purse. So, with that in mind, let us take a look at what we can expect from this first round of the American Criterium Cup.
The Course
The course is your classic 3 x 1; a four-corner crit with straights that are three blocks long and one block wide that, when you are going quick enough, effectively turn the course into an oval. Run counterclockwise, the course is sure to provide the eye-watering speed that we have come to know and love from American crit racing.
According to the website, the finishing straight is a slight uphill drag to the line. Potentially favoring those with a long-range, all-out power sprint; someone able to jump straight out of the last corner, two blocks from the line, and accelerate all the way to the finish. Speaking of…
The Teams
Whilst the 2021 edition of Sunny King was a modest affair (taking place the 3rd of July in the middle of a jam-packed USACrits schedule) its place as the opening round of the American Criterium Cup, and a move to April 9th, has done wonders for its numbers - boasting a P/1 field of 94 entries. Wowza. So, who is coming?
Best Buddies Racing
Look, Best Buddies is off to an absolutely FIRE start to 2022. They added some serious firepower to the squad in the forms of cyclocross powerhouse Curtis White, road/gravel (and 2021’s winner of Alabama Cycling Classic) do-it-all guy Tanner Ward, and arguably the quickest sprinter in the country, Ama Nsek. Oof. Adding those guys to the likes of Amateur Criterium National Champion Danny Esteves, and perennial ripper, Michael Hernandez, is quite frankly terrifying. They have expressed that their focus of the year is going to be on racing (and winning) crits, and boy oh boy are they making good on that promise already. They started their season with a 4-day crit omnium down in Panama with the RPC Radio Panama Classic where *checks notes* they won all four days of racing. Ohp, and they swept the podium on day 2, going 1-2-3 on the day. With Ama, Tanner, Michael, and former Pan-Am Champ, Bryan Gomez, on the roster for this weekend, we reckon they are going to be a tough squad to beat.
Butcherbox Cycling P/B Look
Butcherbox is another team that made the most of the off-season by adding major firepower to the squad. Including California-based, Junior Mexican Road National Champion, Eduardo Cruz, track-whiz, Eddy Huntsman, and the diesel engine disguised as a human, Corey Lockwood. These three will be joined by Butcherbox alumni Oliver Flautt, Sam Rosenholtz, and Spencer Moavenzadeh. With this line-up, we have got to imagine they will be keeping an eye out for the chance to show off their brand new, super-aero, Look 785 frames by sending a break up the road early on and trying to wear down the sprinty-bois in the field. And if any team has the power and race savvy to make that happen, it is the Butcherbox Boyz TM.
Automatic | ABUS Racing
It feels almost wrong to call the ever-evolving team of Automatic | ABUS Racing an underdog, primarily because they are led by 2x overall USACrits Champion, Thomas Gibbons (speaking of, when you are done here, click here). Yet, when compared to the stacked nature of the two BB’s above, it would be hard to pin them as favorites. Along with Gibbons, the squad for this weekend includes Automatic staples in the likes of Dalton Collins and Daniel Swan who, after a year of riding the front of the USACrits circuit, are primed for a strong year. The roster will also be bolstered by one of the crit greats seemingly coaxed out of retirement, Aldo Ilesic. With a strong mix of age, experience, and brute strength, there is no doubt that you will be seeing plenty of that bright, Automatic Orange at the front of the bunch come Saturday night. Actually, make that every weekend, as Automatic are one of the few teams who have publicly committed to racing the complete, 10-race series this year.
L39ion and The Blazers
The most notable item when it comes to L39ion and the newly formed Miami Blazers, will be the lack of participation from the two powerhouses. That being said, L39ion does appear to be sending new signing Ian Garrison (fresh off his time with a little European team called Quickstep) and former US National Road Champion Ty Magner - two guys who are no strangers to speed and messy bunch sprints. So, what L39ion may lack in numbers, they more than make up for in their ability to push 60t chainrings.
Interestingly, the Miami Blazers show that they will be fielding a full squad of 6 guys. However, a quick look at their instagram page reveals that they are down in NorCal for this weekends Sea Otter Classic, where they plan on having a team launch party. So, we will have to wait and see who, if anyone, they decide to send to Alabama. But, whoever it is, you can be sure they will be ready to race.
The Livestream
Watching the first race of the season (or, in this case, series) is always exciting - so much potential, so many unknowns; who trained their ass off in the off-season? How will the new signings integrate into the teams? Who will start the series off strong and who will be playing catch-up all year? After concern that there would be no live footage of the American Crit Cup races, we are happy to report that they do have plans to livestream each stop on the calendar. You can find the Livestream for this weekends Alabama Cycling Classic by clicking here: ACC Livestream.
I am going to be honest with you here gang, I personally cannot wait to get this season rolling. While there are undoubtedly going to be a lot of kinks to sort out with this new national series, one thing we can be sure about is that this year is going to provide some incredible racing and storylines. You can bet your last dollar that come Saturday night I will be sat firmly on my floor, watching every minute of the Alabama Cycling Classic.
And if you want to stay up-to-date on every race, every stop of the American Criterium Cup this year, then be sure to subscribe to the Criterium Nation Chronicle. Good luck out there.