Organisers of the Commonwealth Cycling Classic in Virginia have called off the inaugural edition of the four-day 2.1 race that was planned for August 24-27.
Speaking with Cyclingnews by phone from Richmond, Commonwealth Classic Executive Director Tim Miller said local support for the race was strong, but the timing was wrong to pull together all the necessary pieces for the event that he hoped would serve as a legacy to the 2015 Richmond World Championships.
"I talked to quite a few sponsors, and most of the sponsors I talked to said, 'Hey, it sounds great, and if you get this up and running we're in'," said Miller, who was also chief operating officer of the 2015 Richmond Worlds organisation. "But creating an event like this from scratch is like a complex jigsaw puzzle where all these different pieces have to fall into place at the right time in order to go the the next step. And all those pieces just didn't fall into place at the right time for various reasons."
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The Commonwealth Classic was the brainchild of RPM Events, a group Miller formed last year with two Colorado businessmen to promote the Virginia race and the new Colorado Classic, which is moving forward toward its scheduled dates of August 10-13.
Earlier this week, the Colorado race announced details for a 'Velorama' music festival that will run concurrent with the final stages in Denver. Organisers are betting that national acts including Wilco and Death Cab for Cutie will entice spectators to pay admission to see the concert and watch the racing. They've also added a two-day, three-stage women's race to the cycling festival.
When RPM Events announced the new Colorado and Virginia races last September, the group claimed it was seeking a more financially stable, streamlined business model with new revenue streams, especially important because neither race had secured a title sponsor. They also opted for cost-saving spoke-and-hub routes based out of a single city rather than the more costly far-flung point-to-point races.
Moving forward
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