The Maryland Cycling Classic is a 120.4-mile race set to take pro cyclists through Baltimore County and into Baltimore City on Sunday, Sept. 4 as part of the UCI ProSeries, a high-level division of men’s road cycling.
Talk to event organizers and they’ll tell you it looks like a one-of-a-kind event.
“To go through the rural terrain … and then to roll into the fast-and-furious, nowhere-to-hide street racing in downtown Baltimore is a pretty unique combination,” said Chris Aronhalt, the president of Medalist Sports, which is coordinating the effort to plan and execute a safe event for riders and fans.
“I don’t think in doing this for 25-plus years I’ve ever seen a course quite like this,” said Steve Brunner, the president of KOM Sports Marketing, which is handling the promotional and sponsorship aspects of the event.
The Maryland Cycling Classic was originally scheduled for Sept. 6, 2020. However, the COVID-19 pandemic twice forced the postponement of the event. The process to get to the finish line in 2022 has been arduous, and the race itself poses numerous logistical challenges that require meticulous preparation and collaboration from all involved.
Though the race was put on hold for two years, the idea had been simmering for far longer. Terry Hasseltine, president of the Sport and Entertainment Corporation of Maryland, began thinking about the possibility of a pro cycling event in 2008, and when Hagerstown hosted the USA Cycling Amateur Road National Championships in 2018 and 2019, USA Cycling indicated that Maryland would be a good spot for a pro event.
As such, Hasseltine and his group reached out to Georgia-based Medalist Sports and Colorado-based KOM Sports Marketing, which had teamed up to put on major cycling events in North America in the past. The parties concluded that a race in the Baltimore region made sense, and they reached out to the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale, the governing body for international cycling) and USA Cycling to figure out a date for the inaugural race. Labor Day weekend in 2020 was the target until COVID-19 hit.
Maryland is a good fit for a pro cycling event for myriad reasons beyond the unique nature of the terrain, according to Hasseltine. The success of the 2015 UCI Road World Championships in Richmond, Va., showed the potential of the mid-Atlantic region as a host to major cycling events. Plus, the Maryland Cycling Classic is the only U.S. race on the UCI ProSeries and World Tour calendars in 2022, filling a void after several American events fell off the UCI calendar in recent years.
Further, Labor Day weekend is perfect for riders, since they’ll be coming to this part of the world for UCI World Tour events in Quebec on Sept. 9 and 11 anyway. It’s also perfect for Maryland, with the race occurring right before the NFL season starts.
“It’s a time which is usually relatively quiet in the market, so bringing in an event with a high international profile to the market was part of our long-term strategy between making sure that we’re not [only] hosting world-class events, but we’re also hosting world-class events with some international flavor associated with them as well,” Hasseltine said.
Sixteen teams of seven riders will compete in the Maryland Cycling Classic, with athletes representing as many as 30 different countries. Riders will start the race outside of Kelly Benefits headquarters in Sparks at 1:30 p.m. on the day of the race and are expected to finish at Pratt and Market Streets at about 6 p.m., not long after the Orioles-Athletics game ends at Camden Yards. The race takes riders up near the Pennsylvania border, around Prettyboy Reservoir and finally on a four-lap trip through Baltimore that may end in a sprint to the finish line.
The race is free for fans to attend. Brunner suggests heading to Kelly Benefits around noon to meet the cyclists, who will mingle with fans and sign autographs as they fine-tune their bikes. Beyond that, Brunner says the “scenic beauty” of the Prettyboy Reservoir would be a good spot to catch some racing — and, of course, the finish line at the Inner Harbor, where there will be big screens to watch the race along with food, drinks and cycling vendors.
One cyclist familiar with mid-Atlantic terrain is Ben King, a native of Richmond and member of UCI ProTeam Human Powered Health.
“First of all, it’s beautiful, the landscape and the scenery,” King said. “… From a sporting side, it’s very rolling. A lot of areas are either mountainous or flat, but in and around Baltimore, like Charlottesville, where I train, it’s very hilly — lots of steep, short little kickers that tend to make a more interesting race because something can happen at any point.”
But creating such a unique environment takes tremendous collaboration because traffic on public roads must be managed to make way for the race. Medalist Sports has taken the lead on coordinating with local police departments to prepare for road closures as well as working with Baltimore neighborhood associations and churches to ensure no cars are parked on the route on the day of the race. Cross-traffic will be allowed.
“Our goal is to limit the impact of using public roads, and we hope that folks do understand that limited inconvenience and actually enjoy the race as it goes by,” Aronhalt said.
It has also been a big effort to keep sponsors engaged through two postponements. Brunner and volunteer event chair John Kelly, the president of Kelly Benefits, took the lead on keeping the lines of communication open with sponsors. UnitedHealthcare has remained the presenting sponsor for the race throughout it all.
“We’ve got a good core group of sponsors,” Kelly said. “It’s my hope that we can build a legacy event. Once people see it and experience it, it’s going to bring economic value to our city, economic value to our state and county and then hopefully it’s something we can perpetuate.”
The Sport and Entertainment Corporation of Maryland is operating under a three-year working agreement with the UCI through 2024. The hope is that the Maryland Cycling Classic becomes an annual event, and a slam-dunk inaugural event would not hurt the cause. The race will go on rain or shine, with thunder or lightning causing delays or shortening it. Hasseltine expects 55,000 fans, but if weather cooperates, there could be more than 100,000 fans lining the streets of Baltimore City and County. The race can be streamed on cycling network GCN+ and the Tour Tracker app.
And it’s not just a one-day event. Bike Jam will be held at Patterson Park from 4:30-7 p.m. on Sept. 1, giving kids a chance to learn about cycling for free. Teams for the Maryland Cycling Classic will be introduced on Lancaster Street in Harbor East from 6-9 p.m. on Sept. 2. Then, the day before the race, the Bridges of Hope Ride will allow amateur cyclists to ride portions of the course as part of a fundraising effort for the UnitedHealthcare Children’s Foundation.
“I think cycling is an event that has an international feel to it, but we also have a number of local and regional folks who are big cyclists, and I think we have an opportunity to maybe share a new sport to a younger generation who may not be as familiar with an event like cycling,” Visit Baltimore president and CEO Al Hutchinson said. “We may be able to bring in a whole new cycling community and grow the sport.”
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Maryland Cycling Classic
Issue 276: August/September 2022
Originally published Aug. 17, 2022