The North Star Grand Prix's conclusion on Sunday also wrapped up the unofficial first half of the US racing season, with teams and riders taking a short break from the action while the U23s, juniors and amateurs compete for the National Championships at Lake Tahoe, and the speedsters rack up the criterium miles at the Tour of America's Dairyland.
The women's National Racing Calendar (NRC), won this year by Optum Pro Cycling's Leah Kirchmann, is already complete, while the men have just the Reading 120 left in the series. The stage racers are now eyeing the Cascade Cycling Classic in mid-July as the race to warm up the legs for the big trophies that lie ahead at the Tour of Utah, USA Pro Challenge in Colorado and Tour of Alberta. The US domestic teams will also be looking to take a crack at the team time trial world championship in Richmond.
In the list that follows, Cyclingnews takes a look at eight things we learned from the first half of the 2015 season.
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Two steps forward and one step back for women's cycling
The momentum continues to build for women's cycling this year, with the Tour of California presenting a three-day stage race to go along with the time trial it has promoted since 2012, and the Philadelphia International Cycling Classic moving to World Cup status and drawing a world-class field for the women's race, which was moved into the prime-time spot in the middle of the day. The women's peloton has been taking advantage of the increased attention by showing off an aggressive brand of racing that often outshines the men's oftentimes more formulaic approach. News that the USA Pro Challenge is adding a three-day women's race and the Tour of Utah is adding a second event to create a two-day criterium omnium continued to build on the momentum.
Although the positive signs abound, the North Star Grand Prix's recent decision to drop its women's event this year due to a lack of registered participants (Carmen Small ended up racing in the men's event), and the bikini-model clad podium at the women’s Diamond Tour in Belgium were reminders that there's always more work to be done.
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