Maryland will triple in size for 2026 as North American road racing rebounds ahead of the Canadian world championships next year and the Los Angeles 2028 Summer Games.
The Maryland Cycling Classic could expand to three days, according to the latest UCI calendar. (Photo: Maryland Cycling Classic/ Blake Dahlin )
Updated October 7, 2025 01:35PM
An American road race revival is breaking out, and it just keeps getting better.
The Maryland Cycling Classic, which returned this summer after a one-year hiatus, will expand from a one-day race to a three-stage event in 2026, according to the newly released UCI calendar published on ProCyclingStats.
The race jumps to 2.Pro status on the UCI ProSeries, a move that packs more UCI points, and something that will help draw more teams and marquee European riders to U.S. roads. There is not yet official confirmation, but it appears that the expanded race will include women’s and men’s races.
Maryland’s move will come as part of a series of races stacked up for what could be a banner North American 2026 calendar that could lay the groundwork for even more.
According to the newly released calendar, the expanded Maryland event will run September 5–7, directly following the reborn Philadelphia Cycling Classic on August 30.
Together, they anchor back-to-back weekends of racing on the East Coast that lead straight into the Grand Prix Cycliste du Québec on September 11 and Grand Prix Cycliste du Montréal on September 13.
And all of that is just a week before the 2026 road world championships in Montréal slated for September 20-27.
Tadej Pogačar, anyone?
That cluster of events effectively restores a North American race block unseen since the Tour of California folded after the 2019 edition.
Organizers are sensing a renewed appetite for road racing ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and are piling on.
There are fresh reports of a new stage race being considered in Mexico thanks to the breakout success of Isaac del Toro.
That comes in the slipstream of George Hincapie’s new U.S.-based pro road team set to debut next season.
North American road racing has been in a slow retreat during much of the past decade. Maryland’s expansion to three days could be a sign that things are finally turning around.