American Cycling has taken flight for the 2023 road season in the US, making an announcement via social media on Saturday that the new men’s domestic elite squad would feature Michael Hernandez, who was the team leader with the former Best Buddies Racing team that folded in September. The team announced an eight-rider roster.
Best Buddies Racing were one of the most dominant men’s teams on the North American criterium racing scene the past two years, winning the men’s team standings in the season-long American Criterium Cup. That squad was led by Thomas Craven, who also directed the Hincapie Racing team for many years, and he returns to lead American Cycling, confirming to Cyclingnews that the squad will focus solely on criterium events.
“There’s so much momentum out there, with our team from last year, and I wanted to stay at the forefront of sponsorship as well as partners and the sport. We are for sure trying to build this team as a model for the future. We’re more than a one and done,” Craven told Cyclingnews.
“We're trying to be much more strategic about where we’ll race. We’ll do the American Criterium Cup stuff as well as all these other independent, good races, like Arlington, Somerville and Athens. We'll do all the crits, we will not do any stage races. We’ll go to amateur nationals, but again, there's no benefit for us to go Pro nationals.”
Craven will reunite several of the Best Buddies alumni who competed alongside Hernandez, including Robert Sierra, Danny Summerhill and Ben Wolfe. Brendan Rhim last competed at the Continental level with Wildlife Generation, taking three victories in 2022 including the second at the Armed Forces Cycling Classic and a second on a stage at the UCI 2.1 Turul Romaniei. He also raced five seasons with the Hincapie programme.
Three Colombians will be on the team, including Jaime Castrañeda who had a solid year of racing with Emanuel Ibarry and 2NDBIKE last season with nine top 10s. Sebastian Cano is a former speed skater who is the reigning masters 35-39 Florida State road champion. Jordan Parra has a background in road and track cycling.
Hernandez will race in the stars-and-stripes US champion’s jersey having won the men’s amateur criterium title in early July. He then made headlines for a disqualification, and three-month suspension, for his involvement in a multi-rider fist fight after the Salt Lake Criterium. Sierra accepted a one-month suspension for his involvement in the same incident.
The team confirmed it will incorporate an icon of an American eagle for a yet-to-be unveiled kit, saying “the eagle represents our dreams”. Hincapie Sportswear will produce racing and team apparel, and BMC is on board as the bicycle partner with LUN wheels and a Shimano 12-speed set up. Kask will provide helmets and 1st Endurance is the nutrition sponsor.
The team will start its season with a short camp and races in Florida, as one of the top investors, Pablo Santa Cruz, CEO of Topview International, is based out of Tampa.
“Pablo’s been involved in cycling, soccer and auto racing, so he has a vision for cycling - junior cycling, as well as professional cycling. So he's really helped get this project going,” Craven added.
They have inquired about joining forces with a women’s team to qualify for participation in the new National Cycling League but have not heard back from NCL management. At the present time, American Cycling will focus on active engagement with sponsors and fans at prominent criterium events that have long histories of success.
“We've sort of identified for weekends that we're going to be doing some bigger events around the team and races. The first one is going to be Athens Twilight,” Craven said. “We will be able to have sponsors and potential partners all joining us at that race, and close to 100 people at the event with us along the sidelines with all of us there. So it should be pretty cool.”
American Cycling team roster 2023
- Michael Hernandez (USA)
- Sebastian Cano (COL)
- Robert Sierra (USA)
- Danny Summerhill (USA)
- Jordan Parra (COL)
- Brendan Rhim (USA)
- Ben Wolfe (USA)
- Jaime Castañeda (COL)
