The way forward for elite {and professional} girls’s street biking in america is at a crossroads. Regardless of main successes on the worldwide degree—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 a scarcity of improvement alternatives have compelled a number of elite and continental groups to both fold or downsize.
Whereas among the nation’s high cyclists safe contracts overseas, many up-and-coming riders battle to realize the expertise and publicity wanted to compete on the skilled degree.
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 at this time opened its name for athletes for the invite-only 2025 Redlands Bicycle Basic and Armed Forces Biking Basic.
“One of many greatest holes [in the U.S. race scene] is the dearth of groups and alternatives for race begins,” Kristen Arnold, a biking coach and present Ladies’s Growth Street Director for Group USA, advised Biking Weekly.
Arnold will probably be a part of the workforce’s management alongside Julie Kuliecza, a former skilled bicycle owner and Government Director of the Amy D. Basis.
“It’s a struggling panorama. There are fewer girls’s elite groups than there have ever been within the final ten years,” mentioned Arnold. “I personally know of numerous riders which can be on the lookout for alternatives to race as a result of so many groups have folded, and so they haven’t got 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 workforce this season.
The races
The composite workforce’s first race alternative will are available in April on the Redland Bicycle Basic. The California race is among the longest-running stage races in america, 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 Basic in Arlington, Virginia. First held in 1998, this hotly contested occasion consists of two days of high-speed criterium racing and is among 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 workforce is now open. Riders accepted into this system will obtain entry charges, housing, race attire, onsite race and logistical help and, after all, 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. Heart for SafeSport, and USADA
- Get hold of a Rider Launch Kind from their present workforce 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 high outcomes and supply two references
- Full the SafeSport Skilled Program with certification from the final 12 months
Software could be discovered right here. Deadlines are:
- Redlands Basic: Functions due by February 25, 2025
- Armed Forces Basic: Functions due by April 17, 2025
