Prestige Women's Cycling Series 2004 
by Trish Albert

Out of last year's Yoplait Women's Cycling Summit Conferences comes the 2004 Women's Prestige Cycling Series, a national level cycling series for Elite Womens teams. The four events comprising the series will be the Redlands Bicycle Classic, Nature Valley Grand Prix, Tour de 'Toona, and Bermuda Grand Prix, which will serve as the finale. The Wachovia Liberty Classic and T-Mobile International may be included, pending a decision from Threshold Sports. The first three events will be contested by all participating teams. The fourth, the Bermuda Grand Prix, will be for the top ten teams, as the promoter has generously offered to provide free airfare and housing for those squads. The 
series web page is: http://www.WomenCyclists.com. 

Southeastern Cycling asked several of the Atlanta based teams if they will be participating in the Prestige Women's Series: 

Genesis will join the ranks of the Elite Women's squads in the US in 2004. From Mike Skop, the Directeur Sportif: "Genesis Scuba/FFCC team is looking forward to competing in this year's inaugural series. It will be one of the major objectives of our season. We are very excited about this series and it's implications for the sport of women's cycling. This high profile series is the perfect venue for the premier riders and teams to gain much needed exposure for the sport of women's cycling. Just as important, the limited number of races allows for local and regional teams who have smaller budgets to complete in the entire series against the best riders in North America. That in my opinion with be (sic) the most lasting legacy of this series. The Genesis Scuba team 
was founded on the ideal that we would take local and regional riders and prepare them for national and 
international competition…So much emphasis is being put on these 4 races that smaller teams from around the country can be assured that if they make the decision to be a part of this series, the will be guaranteed to be racing against both the biggest national squads and other top regional teams in a series of high profile events. That means a lot to the racers and to their sponsors. Perhaps most importantly, with so many new racers likely to come out and compete in this series, we're bound to discover some exciting new talent in this sport. That's bodes really well for women's cycling." 

Kim Sawyer, DS of the new Travel Girl team, said that Travel Girl team will not be participating in the series. "I think it is a great idea and am really excited for all the teams this would benefit. We would love to be able to participate, but, for us, the extra limiting factor is time. We all work full-time and would simply not be able to commit to the series. However, should the series exist for 2005, there's much more of a possibility since we'll all know what to expect ahead of time." When asked what she thought that the Women's Prestige Cycling Series means for women's cycling in the US, Kim said, "It is a great chance for lower-budget teams to compete in a much more manageably-sized national series. Those are some good races, too. I think the 'Prestige' part of the title is very fitting! Also, seeing that this particular women's cycling issue has gone from a kind of rumbling, wide-spread concern, to a spoken issue at the Women's Summit, to action in the form of this series is very exciting and hopefully just begins to open the door to all kinds of exciting possibilities for women racers."

Trish Albert of the Boneshakers Women's Team said that BCTWT will not be participating in the series. "We have decided this year to concentrate on local NRC events as well as three major stage races. Since many on the team work full-time, we have to schedule our time off. We put our race schedule together before the Prestige Series announcement. The Prestige Series is a fantastic idea for women's cycling. Regional teams will be competing against the Elite teams while keeping the expenses of travel under control. It will allow regional riders to race against the best women in the US. BCTWT hopes to participate in 2005."