Baltimore planning UCI one-day race for 2020

USA Cycling confirmed today that the city of Baltimore has applied to host a UCI-sanctioned one-day race in 2020, making it the first new one-day race in North America since the Winston-Salem Classic obtained 1.1 status in 2018.

The Baltimore Business Journal reported on Thursday that Medalist Sports, the technical directors of Tour of Utah and Colorado Classic, has partnered with Maryland Sports and Visit Baltimore to hold the professional race over the Labor Day holiday next September.

The race would coincide with festival activities in Baltimore's Inner Harbor in hopes of boosting tourism.

If the event goes through with the desired status, it would be the first 1.HC race in North America since the demise of the Philadelphia International Classic, last held in 2012, and would reverse a trend of disappearing races in the US.

Currently the only one-day road races in all of North America are the 1.2-ranked White Spot Delta Road Race and the Winston-Salem Classic, the 1.1-ranked GP Gatineau, and the two WorldTour races, the GP de Quebec and GP de Montreal for men.

The mid-Atlantic region is a hotbed of amateur cycling, however, serving the greater Washington, D.C., area and Virginia, and when nearby Richmond, Virginia, hosted the UCI Road World Championships in 2015, the event was considered an enormous success.

Baltimore last hosted professional road cycling when the BikeJam/Kelly Cup was part of the USA Cycling Pro Road calendar, but the city annually hosts the UCI-sanctioned Charm City Cyclo-cross races in October.