USA Pro Challenge to add multi-day women's race in 2015

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The USA Pro Challenge will add a multi-day race for women that will be held in conjunction with the professional men’s stage race during the 2015 edition next August.

The event’s CEO Shawn Hunter expects the inaugural women’s edition to attract the best female racers in the world and include a parcours that uses many of the same roads as the men’s race.

"We're very excited about it. Some of the great riders, not only just in the US but from Europe, probably will be racing here in Colorado next August," said Hunter in an interview with KUNC.com, a community radio station in Colorado.

The professional men’s UCI 2.HC event is scheduled to be held from August 17-23 next summer and Hunter expects the women’s race to be held many of the same roads.

"It would be the same week, much of the same roads. And we're working on those details now. It's a big undertaking and we want to do it right.”

Although it is the first time the USA Pro Challenge will host its own women's race, it is not the first time a women's race will be held in conjunction with the men's race. Retired racer Jessica Phillips organized the former multi-day Aspen Women's Pro Race in 2011 and the final stage was held in downtown Aspen and finished prior to the pro men's stage on the same finish line.

The USA Pro Challenge's decision to create a women's race comes just after the AEG, organizers of the Tour of California, announced an expansion of its women's race to a total of four days, which includes a three-day stage race and an individual time trial. The Vuelta a España also recently announced that it will host a one-day women's race in 2015.

Watch the video below to see UCI President Brian Cookson discuss his hopes for women's cycling. To subscribe to the Cyclingnews video channel, click here.