Cycling fans heading to the Virgin Money Cyclone weekend in Newcastle next month will be able to watch more then 130 of the UK’s top riders in action.
The Curlew Cup, won last year by Dame Sarah Storey, and the Beaumont Trophy, in which former national road race champion, Russell Downing, claimed victory 12 months ago, will be held on Sunday June 30.
With a month still to go, top British teams including Rapha Condor JLT and riders such as European cyclo-cross champion, Helen Wyman, have signed up to compete.
Virgin Money Cyclone weekend organiser Peter Harrison said: “To have so many riders signed up so early on is an encouraging start for this year’s Cyclone weekend and there are still some spaces for riders to full up the fields. The events promise to create quite a spectacle.”
Britain’s UCI Continental teams, including Team UK Youth, current leaders of the Pearl Izumi Tour Series, will contest the Beaumont Trophy, part of the Premier Calendar series.
Team Raleigh, currently second in the Tour Series, Malcolm Elliot’sNODE4-Giordana Racing squad, SPinROTOR-PrimalEurope-COriginals, Team Hope Factory Racing, and Wheelbase Altura MGD have already signed up.
The Curlew Cup line-up includes the Matrix Racing Fitness Academy team and Scott Contessa Epic squad, both teams expected to feature at the sharp end of the women’s national series competition.
RCUK teamed up with Virgin Money in April to offer a VIP weekend to one lucky winner a VIP trip to the four-day festival, including watching the Beaumont Trophy from the team car.
The festival of cycling begins on Thursday June 27 with the Tyne 6 Bridges Leisure Rides for families and riders new to the sport.
Racing begins on Friday June 28 with the Leazes Criteriums, a series of flat-out, city-centre races expected to feature the next generation of elite professionals, and which will offer an impressive prize fund.
“It is always a great race on a great course and a £4,000 prize pot works as a good incentive for the riders!” Harrison said.
Saturday June 28 will see the amateurs tackle the same road course as the professionals contesting the Beaumont Trophy will race on the following day.
Some 4,000 dedicated amateurs are expected to ride in the Virgin Money Cyclone Challenge on Saturday June 28, on routes of 33, 63, and 104 miles, before the professionals take centre stage on Sunday June 29.
