British Cycling announce new dates for 2014 national road series

British Cycling have announced the new calendar for their road series 2014. The biggest changes to the series for 2014 come with the introduction of the British Cycling Elite Road Series which replaces the Premier Calendar. This series is made up of the Spring Cup and the Grand Prix Series. This season Team Raleigh's Evan Oliphant won the overall classification of the Premier Calendar. 

The Spring Cup consists of three races in April and May: Tour of the Reservoir 2 Day, Cycle Wiltshire GP and the Lincoln GP. The Grand Prix is a series of six races in July and August: Stockton Festival of Cycling, Ryedale GP, Circuit of the Fens, Stafford Kermesse, Leicester Kermesse and the UCS Ipswich and Coastal GP. 

For 2014 the Elite Circuit Series will remain unchanged in format, a total of six events will form the series next season. The series will take place during July and will culminate with the series finale in Wales on 30th July.

British Cycling also introduces a new tier of teams just below the UCI continental ranking: British Cycling Elite National Team. It will reward teams who meet a set of professional standards with a set number of benefits and guarantees inclusion into the Elite Road Series events. Along with UCI teams, the new Elite National Teams will be included in both individual and team overall rankings across the British Cycling Elite Road Series.

The existing club team structure will still exist in its current format and National Series events will continue to be open to club teams and individual riders, although inclusion within the overall rankings for those series respectively will only be open to teams who have affiliated to the series for the full season.

The British Cycling Women’s Road Series has ten races in 2014 again. The Cheshire Classic on the 27th of April is the first one. The series is concluded by the Stafford GP and Kermesse on the 1st and 2nd of August.