The American Criterium Cup (ACC) will return for its sophomore season in 2023 with nine events and an overall $100,000 series prize purse, organisers announced this week. While the number of events has been reduced, the significant change is that earning opportunities have increased, according to one of the race managers.
“The main takeaway for us was that [the significance] was not going to change even with a reduction in the number of events, the purse is going to remain at $100k,” Mike Weiss, one of three managers for the the ACC explained to Cyclingnews.
In its inaugural season, the series offered 10 events across the United States that provided support and prize money totalling $100,000, shared equally between men and women in individual and team categories.
The overall pro men’s champion was Brandon Feehery (Project Echelon Racing) and the pro women’s winner was Maggie Coles-Lyster (DNA Pro Cycling). Best Buddies Racing and Colavita Factor Pro Cycling took top team honours for men and women, respectively.
“The reality is being part of the ACC means you have a minimum of $50,000 split equally amongst the genders, the prize purse is a constant. Even though we’ve reduced the number of events, we’re going to have an overall payout of $100,000. Some promoters are doing more at their races, those totals over $135,000,” Weiss, who is the director of member-event Bommarito Audi Gateway Cup, explained to Cyclingnews.
Combined with cash prizes available to the men’s and women’s fields at individual races in the series, individual riders and teams could expect to compete for $400,000 in the one-day criterium events next year, according to the ACC. Each participating race must provide a combined minimum of a $15,000 prize purse for its pro races, which is paid separately from the series. ACC champions are awarded across multiple designations across men’s and women’s individual winners (sprint and overall), men’s and omen’s Teams and men’s and women’s U23 riders.
Like the inaugural season, Sunny King Criterium in Anniston, Alabama will launch the series on May 6, which is a month later than last year. The finale at the Bommarito Audi Gateway Cup in St. Louis, Missouri. In between eight returning events is one new stop, the June 17 race of the 11-day Kwik Trip Tour of America’s Dairyland in Wisconsin.
“Right now there’s nine solid events. We don’t have a magic number. If it emerges that there’s an American event that has…
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