Tour of the Battenkill

Kelly Benefit Strategies was arguably the most prominent domestic squad to be denied an invitation to February's Tour of California, but the scrappy team has refocused its season and is currently on a tear, dominating stage races on two continents. At the Tour of Thailand, Kelly's Andrew Bajadali took over the GC lead Wednesday, taking the leader's jersey off the shoulders of teammate Jake Erker, who had led the race all week. With one stage left in Thailand, Kelly leads the team GC and has four riders in the top five on GC.

Long Beach, CA – With no races on the national calendar this week, several riders from the OUCH Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis took to the streets for local races on both coasts. The result was two race wins and one overall omnium title, courtesy of John Murphy and Bobby Lea. On Saturday, Murphy followed up his Redlands Criterium win from the week before by winning a convincing sprint from a nine-rider break in the inaugural Long Beach Bicycle Festival.

Kelly Benefit Strategies' David Veilleux will miss a few weeks' racing after breaking his collarbone in a crash during a team training camp in Texas. Veilleux was reaching back to put his sunglasses in his jersey pocket when he hit a pothole and crashed. He is returning to his native Quebec, Canada to recover and is expected to miss the Redlands Bicycle Classic and the Tour of Uruguay. His team expects him to return to racing at New York's Tour of the Battenkill April 18-19.

Organizers of the 2009 Tour of the Battenkill cycling race (www.tourofthebattenkill.com) announce team selections for the Pro Men's Invitational Race on Sunday April 19. A new addition to the event for 2009, the Pro Men's Invitational is the marquee race for the April 18-19 weekend.

It seems that joining the international calendar may not have been as important as Tour of the Battenkill Valley promoter Dieter Drake initially thought. Even after being denied a spot on the UCI America Tour in early December — largely due to concerns over the race’s mix of dirt and paved roads — the two-day event has secured a major presenting sponsor in the form of microprocessor manufacturer AMD, and registered nearly 1,300 in the week registration opened.

The Tour of the Battenkill Valley, an upstate New York road race that has captured the imagination of many Northeastern riders with its partly dirt route, will be a two-day event with a pro road race next year. But the new pro race will not be UCI sanctioned or part of USA Cycling's America Tour calendar, as the promoter would have liked. USA Cycling and UCI officials say the race's short history and unusual course raise too many question marks, especially after deadlines have passed for requesting UCI sanctioning.

December 1, 2008 Sean Petty Chief Operating Officer USA Cycling 1 Olympic Plaza, ??Colorado Springs, CO 80909 Dear Mr. Petty:

Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y) has stepped up to support the Tour of the Battenkill’s application to ?be included in the 2009 UCI America Tour. In mid-November, despite authorization from the UCI for a late application, USA Cycling declined to review promoter Dieter Drake’s bid to replace the Tour of Georgia on the UCI America Tour.

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Despite authorization from the UCI for a late application, USA Cycling declined last week to review an application to replace the Tour of Georgia in 2009 on the UCI America Tour with a two-day race in upstate New York, passing up an opportunity to fill a gap in the international calendar. As the 2009 USA Cycling National Racing Calendar stands, there will be a nearly month-long gap in NRC racing between the March 26-29 Redlands Bicycle Classic and the April 26 Dana Point Grand Prix of Cycling. In 2008 the Tour de Georgia was part of USA Cycling's Professional Tour.

Anna Milkowski is a member of Team Advil-Chapstick. This diary entry was completed a few hours after she won the 2008 Tour of the Battenkill Valley in New York — Editor Redlands exists as a haze — a temporary exchange of lobster gloves and neoprene flippers for sunscreen and swimming pools — then a quick return to winter. The experience hinted I had survived this challenging winter of indoor riding and even a yard-sale crash on black ice, but the season began for real today with the Battenkill Roubaix in Salem, New York.

Near-record setting temperatures sent dust, gravel and rocks flying at the Tour of the Battenkill Valley on Saturday, but racers from the Great White North, perhaps the least adjusted to the heat, managed to dominate the event. Bruno Langlois, racing for Team Volkswagen, pipped five-time Canadian national champion Mark Walters (Team R.A.C.E.), following an 82-mile event that sent racers over a combination of dirt and paved roads in a quiet corner of New York State.

Returning to this year's Tour of the Battenkill in Salem, NY on April 19 is Team R.A.C.E. Pro cycling team of Canada. Team R.A.C.E Pro returns with an expanded squad that includes one-day classic specialist and 5-time Canadian National Road Champion Mark Walters, as well as 2007 Univest Omnium Champion Ryan Roth. Both are aiming for Beijing Olympic berths in 2008. Team R.A.C.E. Pro is managed by Tour de France Stage Winner and Olympic Silver Medalist Steve Bauer and Josee Larocque of Cycle Sport Management, Inc.