Amateur & Para-Cycling Road Nationals Return to Madison This Week

Nearly 1,000 of the nation’s best amateur cyclists and para-cyclists take to the roads in and around Madison, Wis., this week to compete for a coveted Stars-and-Stripes jersey at the 2014 USA Cycling Amateur & Para-cycling Road National Championships. The event returns to Madison after a successful run last year.

The five days of racing began on Wednesday, July 2, at the Blue Mounds State Park, west of Madison, with road races for under-23 women and junior men and women age 15-18. The road races continue today, and will feature the top level of amateur men's road cyclist in the nation, as the U23 and category 1 men toe the line at Blue Mounds State Park. The Fourth of July will see 39 national titles awarded in the time trial, held east of Madison in Waterloo. The action moves to Rockdale on Saturday for road races in the para-cycling categories in addition to the junior men and women age 9-14. Sunday's criteriums in downtown Madison conclude the event and will feature fast-paced racing that will take the riders around the Wisconsin state capitol on a four-corner, one-kilometer course.

Riders to Watch: This event consistently showcases future American pro team riders and Olympic hopefuls, and nowhere is that more on display than in the U23 races. Many of the top contenders in the men’s and women’s U23 events compete internationally for the USA Cycling National Development Program.

A few of the riders to keep an eye on in Madison on the men’s side include defending U23 road race champion Tanner Putt (Park City, Utah/Bissell Development Cycling), reigning 17-18 time trial champion Michael Dessau (Boulder, Colo./Hagens Berman Cycling), who has aged up into the U23 race, and Adrian Costa (Los Altos, Calif./Hagens Berman U23) who will race in the 17-18 division after winning both the time trial and road race last year in the 15-16 division. In the cat 1 races, look for Daniel Holloway (Morgan Hill, Calif./Athlete Octane Cycling) to make some noise fresh off his victory at last week's Tour of America's Dairyland.

In the women's U23 races, reigning time trial and road race champion Kaitlin Antonneau (Racine, Wisc./TWENTY16 Pro Cycling) returns to defend her titles, as does Janelle Cole (Rockford, Mich./West Michigan Coast Riders) in the 17-18 road race and criterium. Others to watch in the women's races are returning 15-16 road race champion Hannah Arensman (Rutherford College, N.C./TWENTY16 Pro Cycling), last year's 15-16 time trial winner Emma White (Delanson, N.Y./Hot Tubes Development Cycling Team) who has aged up to the 17-18 race where she will compete against defending champ Hannah Swan (Alpine, Calif./Strive Racing), and Summer Moak (Katy, Texas/TWENTY16 Pro Cycling) who is coming off a record-breaking performance at the USA Cycling Juniors Track Nationals Championships.

For more information on the event, including course maps, a schedule of each day’s races, results and photos, visit the 2014 USA Cycling Amateur & Para-cycling Road National Championships event page. Look for updates from Madison on the USA Cycling Facebook and Twitter channels, or follow on Twitter with the hashtag #RoadNats.