Speed Week ‘gone for a year’ while USA CRITS returns with $230,000 in total prize money, composite teams, Athens Global Challenge

The USA CRITS one-day racing series in the US returns for a 17th edition in 2026, anchored by the long-standing Athens Orthopedic Clinic Twilight in Georgia. However, gone this year is the partner series Speed Week, a cluster of races with condensed geographic locations and calendar dates that tagged along with USA CRITS.

There’s still a lot of prize purse on offer with eight races across four south-eastern states in USA CRITS, with $200,000 shared equally among the men’s and women’s elite riders. This purse includes individual race payouts and there is a $10,000 series bonus for the top 10 elite men and elite women plus $20,000 series bonus for teams.

Racing begins at Sunny King Criterium in Anniston, Alabama on April 11 and concludes at Winston Salem Cycling Classic on May 23 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Athens Twilight, now in its 46th edition, is the second stop on Saturday, April 18 in Athens, Georgia.

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A trio of races pack consecutive days at the mid-point – Greenville Cycling Classic on Thursday, April 30, Spartanburg Criterium on Friday, May 1 and High Line Criterium on Saturday, May 2. The races encompass a compact area across South Carolina and Georgia within 150 miles (240km).

Along with High Line Criterium moving from last year’s mid-week Speed Week slot, Rock Hill Spring Classic joins the series, having been an all-star race before without series points.

“Suwanee upped their game and moved to Saturday. Rock Hill will be two days of crits, so that’s a nice addition with the city involved. They’re really primed,” Gene Dixon, founder of USA CRITS and owner of series producer Swagger LLC, told Cyclingnews.

Last year the series included a May round in Omaha, Nebraska. Dixon said the city wanted a later date, so his company is looking at adding a summer series of races “that would bring back some of the old USA CRITS venues.”

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Lucas Bourgoyne (Team Cadence Cyclery p/b Encore Wire) led wire-to-wire for the USA CRITS overall individual title for elite men. Aylena Quevedo (Kingdom Elite Racing) won the individual elite women’s title.

The majority of racing in the south-east takes place on weekend dates across April and May, which several teams have noted are not ideal for travel without an abundance of back-to-back days. However, series organisers are offering enticements such as team travel stipends.

“We keep working on a D1 team program like we did last year. We have around $5,500 in travel money for each team. We have a team [registration] discount available, and we’re going to build some composite teams. We’re hoping to get some good interest in those,” Dixon said.

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He said an extra $15,000 in prize money will also be offered the Thursday prior to Athens Twilight with a virtual and in-person Twilight Global Challenge, supported by Wahoo and Training Peaks and hosted at event venue Live Wire Athens.

Teams will receive a $500 discount to register as D1 before February 1, 2026. All D1 teams of four to six riders must register before March 1 to qualify for overall points and the overall team competition prize purse, with the total fee covering race entries and qualification for travel stipend. Organisers will also build composite teams for individual riders.

The trio of Spin the District criteriums in Georgia, which were integral locations for USA CRITS and Speed Week in past years, have suspended events for this year. The cities of College Park, Hapeville and Union City are all close to metro Atlanta and local leaders have moved funds to try to capitalize on activities around FIFA World Cup matches instead, with four group play rounds taking place in June.

“Hopefully everybody takes advantage of World Cup soccer, because that’s what they’re spending their money on. They’re gone for just a year,” Dixon said. All three races plan to return in 2027.

The call was made by Swagger LLC not to continue with Speed Week this year since only four races had been confirmed instead of a typical lineup of eight.

USA CRITS 2026 schedule