2011 Tour of the Battenkill Adds Women’s Professional Race

Organizers of the 2011 Tour of the Battenkill are proud to announce that the April, 2011 professional event will now include a Women’s Professional race as a highlight on USA Cycling’s National Racing Calendar (NRC) series of races.  The Tour of the Battenkill Professional Women’s race will be in addition to the Men’s Professional race already in its second year on the Americas Tour international professional calendar as a UCI 1.2 event.  Both races will be held on Saturday, April 16 in Cambridge, NY: the 1-lap, 62 mile / 100 km women’s race will precede the 2-lap, 124 mile / 200 km men’s event on the course known as ‘America’s Queen of the Classics’.  The course features several sections of dirt roads and difficult climbs in scenic Washington County, NY.  The professional events follow the popular Pro/Am event to be held the previous weekend on Sunday, April 10 where more than 2500 racers are expected from around the world.

‘We’re thrilled to be able to add the women’s NRC race to our schedule for the professional weekend this year”, said race organizer Dieter Drake.  It was the next big step we wanted to take after two successful years with the men.  Finally, the women will have a chance to shine with what we hope will be some great competition and great teams attending.”

Previous winners of the Women’s elite race at the Pro/Am include Evelyn Stevens – now a member of the Columbia HTC Professional Women’s Team – winning the 2009 Pro/Am in outsprinting former Canadian professional Lynne Bessette and current UCI cyclocross points world leader Laura Van Gilder of the USA, among others.

Former winners of the Men’s Professional race include BMC’s Scott Nydam, and Howolesko Partners’ Caleb Fairly who outlasted Floyd Landis during a 2-man break in the 2010 UCI race.  Fairly will be joining the Garmin Transitions Pro Tour-level team in 2011.

The Tour of the Battenkill in April, the Tour of the Catskills in August, and a soon-to-be-announced professional event in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate NY in September will comprise a series of professional events hosted by Cycle for Health (www.cycleforhealth.org) – a new charitable organization to combat obesity and diabetes, and to promote Junior level cycling in the US and Canada.