For the second time in three years, some of the best bicycle racers in America will be in Utah for the Fresca National Cycling Championships Tuesday through July 9.
The national championships were held in Park City in 1989. Due to the success of that event, the USCF has returned to the high altitude racing of Utah. "The field this year should be as good or better than last time the championships were in Utah," says Salt Lake rider Steve Johnson.Championships will be held in time trial, team time trial, road race and criterium. Road race winners will be named to the U.S. Pan Am championships team.
Individual and team time trials will be held outside Tooele on July 2 and July 9. Criterium events will be July 3-4 on a course in downtown Salt Lake City. And July 6-7, Jeremy Ranch will be the site of the road race championships.
Between men's and women's criterium finals July 4, the Special Olympics program will hold a race. About 16 Special Olympians are expected to compete.
All totaled, more than 800 racers will be in attendance. The event is scheduled to be aired later in the summer on ESPN.
In the men's individual time trials, the competition includes 1989 champion Nathan Sheafor, 38-year-old veteran Kent Bostick, 1990 second-place finisher Bruce Reid and former Junior National and Junior World champion Lance Armstrong.
In women's individual time trials, contenders include former U.S. champion Phillis Hines and rising young racer Eve Stephenson.
The most colorful of the races will be the criterium, which will be held in the block bordered by Fourth and Fifth South streets and State and Second East.
Among the top senior men are Jonas Carney, who finished sixth last year in his first attempt as a senior; Jamie Carney, an older brother to Jonas and a fifth-place finisher last year; and Bob Mionske, a versatile rider who finished fourth in the road race in the 1988 Olympics.
The road race competition could also include a strong showing by Utah racers Scott Lung and veteran Johnson. "He's up there," laughs Johnson, when asked about his own chances. "He's a long shot. But he's been around awhile, and he's kind of cagey."
Lung, 14th in the Casper Classic and sixth in the Cascade Cycling Classic, has been riding well the last two years.
Women's contenders include Karen Bliss, who won the overall title at the prestigious Niedersachsen Rundfahrt in Germany and is the defending national criterium champion, and Jessica Grieco, who won 14 national titles as a junior.
Road race competition will include a number of names familiar from the races two years ago. Rishi Grewal, a winner in 1989, won the road race at the Ironhorse Classic this year. Bob Mionske, also in the criterium, won the road race title in 1990. Other contenders will include Bobby Julich, a fifth-place finisher in the Tour DuPont; Lance Armstrong, an overall winner at the Settimana Bergamasca race earlier this year; and Steve Larson, who finished fifth last year in the road race championships.
Women's favorites include Ruthie Matthes, Dede Demet and Linda Brenneman.
Team Shaklee (John Frey, Bostick, Sheafor and Bruce Reid) and Team Ritchey (Julich, Larson, Armstrong and perhaps Grewal) are favored to contend for the men's team time trial championship.
Other Utah men's racers registered include Tommy Dennison, Jace Brewer, Mike Henseen, Bob Radke, Tom Bonacci, Andy Brewer and Donnie Powell, who moved this year from Vermont. Utah women who registered are Ann Weiland, Rebecca Kauffman and Teresa Williams.
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Cycling schedule
July 2 - Individual Time Trials (Tooele). 40 kilometer race. Women, 8 a.m. Men, 10 a.m. Course on Highway 36, starting at mile marker 42, about 10 minutes south of Tooele.
July 3 - Criterium (Downtown Salt Lake). Women's heats start at 9 and 9:45 a.m. Men's heats at 11 a.m., noon, 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. Racers will travel around City and County Building.
July 4 - Criterium. Women's finals at 11 a.m. Men's finals at 1:30 p.m. Special Olympics follow women's finals.
July 6 - Road Race (Jeremy Ranch). Women's heats at 7 and 8 a.m. Men's at 9 and 10:30 a.m., noon and 1:30 p.m.
July 7 - Road Race. Women's finals 8 a.m. Men's finals, 11 a.m.
July 9 - Team time trials (Tooele). Women's races at 9 a.m., Men's at 11 a.m.