Chauner offers a million dollar bonus

By VeloNews Interactive

The U.S. Pro Cycling Tour is offering a one million dollar prize to the athlete able to win American cycling’s version of horse racing’s Triple Crown, USA Today reported on Tuesday.To win the bonus, a rider must win Sunday’s USPRO championship in Philadelphia, the New York City Cycling Championship on August 3 and the San Francisco Grand Prix on September 14.”We know the one million will guarantee some excitement,” said PCT chairman Dave Chauner. “This will help define the sport in the U.S.”This is not the first time a million dollar bonus was offered. In 1993, the Thrift Drug series went to a young Lance Armstrong, for winning three races.It’s also not the first time Chauner and his promotion firm have offered a large bonus for a rider to win a series of races. In 2000, under the sponsorship of BMC Software, Chauner’s Threshold Sports offered $250,000 each to male and female riders who won a series of four races.Nicole Reinhart was poised to sweep the series when she was killed on the final lap of the fourth race, prompting cancellation of the men’s series.Gord Fraser, who had also won the first three races in the series, later filed a lawsuit seeking an opportunity to wrap up the final race. In turn, Fraser, and his new Health Net squad, have been banned from any Threshold-promoted events in 2003. (see “Why Gord Fraser and Health Net won’t be in Philly”)