US nationals move to West Virginia and change dates

After seven years of calling Knoxville, Tennessee home, the USA Cycling road national championships are moving to Charleston, West Virginia for the next five years.

Beyond just a move in place, the championships will see the professional men and women, the under-23s and the 17-18 junior categories all coalesce into one major event in West Virginia on the western flank of the Appalachian mountains. Additionally, the race will take place on May 15-19 in 2024, as opposed to the normal date for the championships in late June.

“After seven successful years in Knoxville, we are thrilled to start a new tradition with Charleston. We vetted several different venues and were extremely impressed by the challenging terrain and beauty of West Virginia’s capital city,” said Brendan Quirk, USA Cycling’s President and CEO.

“It’s been 20 years since we’ve seen this level of performance by American riders in the European peloton,” Quirk said. “This makes it the perfect time for USA Cycling to really invest in Pro Road Nationals and make it the ultimate week of road racing for American riders at all levels of the developmental pathway - Professional, U23, and Junior 17-18.”

The courses and schedules will be announced at a later date.

Why change, why now?

The move followed an extended contract with Knoxville that saw the professional championship follow a standard form with one short, steep climb delivering the action on the circuit race based course.

Now, the race has moved from one hilly city in the American Southeast to another, with the terrain, climate and potential course being quite similar to what has been the modus operandi for the better part of the last decade.

The junior and U23 events have not seen the same predictability. Since USA Cycling started its run in Knoxville, the amateur nationals – which includes the junior, U23 and cat 1 national championships – has moved from Kentucky, to Maryland, Florida and Virginia. While the statement from USA Cycling has confirmed the top junior category and U23s will race in West Virginia, it appears the rest of the junior categories may race in a separate amateur nationals event.

One of the big points of emphasis for the new championship is how it pairs with the 2024 Olympic games. Both the change of date and course have allowed for USA Cycling to give extra weight to the championships as a de facto Olympic trial in the time trial, as the winner will get a guaranteed spot on the start list in Paris two months later.

“Our goal for the qualifier in Charleston is to closely mimic the course riders will face in Paris. The 2024 Olympic time trial course is 32.4 kilometres in length and is predominantly flat,” said Jim Miller, USA Cycling’s Chief of Sport Performance.

Scheduling conflicts

There are a couple of puzzling elements to the championship, nonetheless. First, the event is scheduled the same day as the newly formed UCI 1.2 race in New York. With that being the only American one-day race open to domestic pros and elites, that conflict would affect a large portion of the would-be racers at both events.

Second, American kids are still very much in school during the May 15-19 window. For 17 and 18 year olds, that week is during a crucial period for AP testing, which can play a big role in college credit and college acceptance, meaning that some riders will have to make the choice between school and racing.

Plus, juniors are normally afforded time away from school to focus on training before their nationals that typically run in late June or July. Now, there is not that time to train. Nevertheless, the move does give American juniors more time to race in Europe during the summer, which was something the former placement of nationals disrupted.

Quinn Simmons

• Team Lidl-Trek
• Nationality United States of America
• Age 23
• UCI Wins 4
• Height 1.82m