Gavin Mannion joins Tanner Putt to lead US national road team, Athens Twilight tapped for American Crit Cup, Valley of the Sun opens early US road season
Global media capture comments from race leader Jonas Vingegaard at 2022 Tour de France(Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
US homes will be able to view live Tour de France coverage for an additional six years thanks to a renewed deal between NBC Sports, its streaming service Peacock and Amaury Sport Organisation, which owns the Tour de France.
The exclusive US broadcast rights, which will run 2024 to 2029, also include ASO’s Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, Vuelta a España, Paris-Roubaix, Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift and several other sporting events. This keeps the world’s most prestigious cycling stage race with NBC Sports and Comcast since 2001 for the US market.
The current agreement with NBC Sports and ASO went through 2023 to broadcast the 110th Tour de France, July 1-23. In 2024, all stages of the Tour de France will be exclusively broadcast live in the US by Peacock, the video streaming service operated by NBCUniversal, with NBC Sports providing a simulcast for select stages and producing pre-race and post-race recap programming.
"We are delighted to be able to extend our long-term partnership with the NBCU group, which promotes the Tour de France and all the major A.S.O. sporting events to the American public on a cross-platform basis, including women's cycling such as the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift,” said Yann Le Moënner, CEO of ASO.
“The combined coverage via Peacock, which will show the entire races from the beginning to the end, and network television, will ensure everyone has access to the best of world cycling. NBC will remain the home of cycling in the United States for another six years, and in 2029 we will celebrate the 29th anniversary of a historic partnership.”
Gavin Mannion leads junior men with US National Team
USA Cycling National Team jersey (Image credit: Getty Images)
Former US pro cyclists Tanner Putt and Gavin Mannion have started new careers with the USA Cycling National Team. Putt serves as the Director of Road, while Mannion begins as the director of the junior men’s program.
“After spending the majority of my junior and U23 career with the USA Cycling National Team, I’m looking forward to being back with the program that gave so many opportunities as a young racer and now working together to build for the future,” Putt said on his Instagram feed.
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Putt, a two-time U23 national champion on the road, worked most recently as the team director for the US-based domestic elite CS Velo Racing team. He raced eight years in the pro peloton, his last year in 2019 with Arapahoe-Hincapie p/b BMC.
Mannion hung up his racing kit with Human Powered Health at the start of the calendar, having raced as a junior with the U23 national team and then 12 full seasons as a pro. He won the 2018 Colorado Classic after a runner-up position in the GC at the 2017 Tour of Utah and added a pair of stage wins at the Le Tour de Savoie Mnt Blanc in 2020, all showcasing his climbing ability.
The US National Team will begin a European swing in June, looking to grab UCI points to earn spots for the World Championships. The first Nations Cup events on the schedule look to be Paris-Roubaix Juniors in April as well as Course de la Paix in early May.
Athens Twilight joins American Criterium Cup as series opener in April
Bryan Gomez of Best Buddies Racing edges Ty Magner of L39ION of Los Angeles for victory at 2022 Athens Twilight Criterium (Image credit: Best Buddies Racing)
One of the longest-running and most popular criterium events in the US, the Athens Orthopedic Clinic Twilight, has been added as the 10th race in the 2023 American Criterium Cup. The second-year series tapped the Athens, Georgia, race for its opening round Saturday, April 22.
The Athens Twilight, now in its 43rd year, also launches Speed Week, a series of seven criteriums contested in a span of nine days across the southeastern US.
“This is a bedrock race for athletes, and this race highlights the deep history of criterium racing in the South. The competition level, the crowd’s excitement and the venue never disappoint,” ACC Administrator Peter Discoe said about the Athens Twilight.
Across the year-long points competitions for men and women, the American Criterium Cup offers a total prize purse of $100,000. Teams and riders are also eligible for an additional $400,000 in prize money and support provided by individual races. The ACC is considering revisions to the points system for 2023 so that it is less likely for a single rider to sweep both the overall and sprint competitions.
Across the seven races in Speed Week, $95,000 was up for grabs last year for pro men and women, which included a $15,000 bonus purse for overall Speed Week individuals and teams. Organisers are expected to match the same prize purse this season.
Valley of the Sun stage race returns
Valley of the Sun stage race is a is a three-day USA Cycling event operated by White Mountain Road Club (Image credit: Valley of the Sun)
The opening stage race on the USA Cycling calendar takes place February 17-19 in the sun-baked southeastern United States. On the heels of Super Bowl LVII and a stop by the PGA TOUR, top amateur and pro cyclists from North America are next to migrate to the greater Phoenix, Arizona area for the 31st edition of the John Earley Memorial Valley of the Sun stage race.
The Landis Cyclery-Trek Time Trial opens competition on Friday, followed by a road race Saturday and a criterium on Sunday. The Valley of the Sun stage race serves as the state’s largest USAC development road race series for juniors.
The three-day event provides a way for teams to assess talent and get in some early-season racing among most training camps for domestic teams.
Three UCI Continental women’s teams are on the start line this year - Virginia’s Blue Ridge TWENTY24, DNA Pro Cycling and Roxo Racing. Leading the way for the pro men’s field are Project Echelon Racing and L39ION of Los Angeles, both on the Continental level.
Jackie has been involved in professional sports for more than 30 years in news reporting, sports marketing and public relations. She founded Peloton Sports in 1998, a sports marketing and public relations agency, which managed projects for Tour de Georgia, Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and USA Cycling. She also founded Bike Alpharetta Inc, a Georgia non-profit to promote safe cycling. She is proud to have worked in professional baseball for six years - from selling advertising to pulling the tarp for several minor league teams. She has climbed l'Alpe d'Huez three times (not fast). Her favorite road and gravel rides are around horse farms in north Georgia (USA) and around lavender fields in Provence (France), and some mtb rides in Park City, Utah (USA).
