Skylar Schneider (Miami Blazers) and Jordan Parra (REIGN Storm Racing) made it official on Sunday and confirmed individual titles in the American Criterium Cup. DNA Pro Cycling and REIGN Storm Racing remained the most consistent squads across the eight races held across four months and took the team classification victories.
The Bommarito Audi West County Gateway Cup in St. Louis, Missouri hosted the final round at the Giro Della Montagna, or “The Hill”, on September 1, with Marlies Mejias (Virginia’s Blue Ridge Twenty24) powering away from Schneider and Alexis Magner (L39ION of Los Angeles) in the final corner and scoring the victory for a third consecutive season. Schneider took second and Magner third.
In the men’s 70-minute race, Juan Arango (Work Hard be Humble) took a hard-fought win ahead of Lucas Bourgoyne (Miami Blazers) and Alfredo Rodriguez (REIGN Storm Racing).
The only competition not decided prior to “The Hill” was the mid-race sprint winner for women, as Danny Summerhill (REIGN Storm Racing) led wire-to-wire as the men’s sprint winner. Only one point separated Schneider from Rylee McMullen (DNA Pro Cycling), with 10, 9 and 8 points on offer for the three fastest riders in the mid-race contest in St. Louis, the most offered all season. Schneider was too quick for the New Zealander and with the 10 points she added the sprint win to the overall title.
Reign Storm Racing reigned supreme on the men’s side all season long. While the opening round at Tulsa Tough was won by Luke Lamperti (Soudal-QuickStep), the REIGN team control of all three ACC competitions - individual, sprint, team - after the second week at the Downer Classic in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Austin Outlaws and Rockland Development finished second and third, respectively, in the team standings. REIGN swept the men’s individual standings, Parra, Rodriguez and Summerhill going 1-2-3, respectively.
Riders and teams took home shares in a total prize purse of $100,000, top teams for women and men earning $10,000 each. The individual prize money was paid 10 deep, Schneider and Parra taking home checks for $5,000 each. In addition, there is another $12,000 split among the top three overall sprinters in each category, payouts divided among individual races and overall points earned.
