The Denver Disruptors cycling team will compete Sunday. Photo: Courtesy of the National Cycling League A first-of-its-kind professional cycling race aimed at elevating a "gender-equal" playing field will take over Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City on Sunday .
What’s happening: The National Cycling League is pitting 10 co-ed teams, including the Mile High City’s very own Denver Disruptors , in a criterium-style competition for a chance to win a share of $1 million in total prize money at the end of the season. The inaugural competition kicked off in Miami in April and will conclude in Atlanta later in August.
Why it matters: The new league is testing out a co-ed format designed to value and pay women and men equally.
What they’re saying: As the first majority-minority and female-owned sports league, "we’re really changing the future of sports generally, and not just for cycling," Andrea Pagnanelli, CEO of National Cycling League, tells us.
How it works: Instead of the traditional first-to-the-finish-line-wins approach, riders earn points based on each lap. They compete separately in roughly 30, 1 mile-laps — and cyclists can substitute in and out anytime during each race’s first 25 laps. Denver’s course features a 1.2-mile, four corner loop that starts and finishes at East 59th Place and Valentia Street, at the south end of the stadium.
Of note: Denver was one of the select cities chosen to pilot the new race because one of NCL’s 15 participating teams is based here, Pagnanelli says. The […]
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