The final list of inaugural events for the new National Criterium Series in the United States was released this week, revealing 10 criteriums across nine states. Two New York races, the MVP Healthcare Rochester Twilight Criterium and the Harlem Skyscraper Cycling Classic, were added to the initial lineup announced a month ago. Also included are the Sunny King Criterium in Alabama and one of the nine days of racing at the Intelligencia Cup in Illinois.

The Americas Criterium Cup was the leading contender for the series' official title, pending organizers' approval on Friday.

The professional criterium series was first announced in December by USA Cycling, along with a group of race directors and cycling teams. The series is self-funded by the founding events, with support and prize money totaling $100,000, split equally between men and women in addition to payments at individual events.

The series will begin April 9 in Anniston, Alabama, and resume May 21 in Rochester, New York. The bulk of the series will take place over the summer with seven races, concluding with the Benton Park Classic on Labor Day, September 5.

Some of the events were part of USA Cycling's Pro Road Tour, which offered elite riders and teams points for overall victory, but no prize money. The creation of the National Criterium Series was seen as a way to address a key element that was missing from the PRT and not "rubber stamp" the same model.

"There has always been confusion about the value of the PRT. The genesis of the series was to fulfill three necessary elements of a series: prize money, story, and event consistency," said Mike Weiss, event director of the Gateway Cup, which hosts the final criterium of the series.

"There are a lot of emotions involved in this; there will be growing pains in year one. There's not a lot of time, because promoters have 60 days to focus on execution and media platforms. It's a chance to rebuild the race in the U.S. and make the criterium a first-class citizen."

Weiss tipped his hat to Los Angeles' L39ION, one of the first teams involved in the planning, for helping to bring the Harlem, NY criterium into the series, as well as races in Colorado and Utah. [Richard Cox, race director of the Harlem Skyscraper Cycling Classic, said, "We are excited to be back racing and participating in the inaugural year of this series. Our event is the second oldest bicycle race in the U.S. since 1973, and it is a great honor to be recognized as one of the top criteriums in the U.S. We look forward to welcoming teams, racers, and spectators from across the country to Harlem in June."

The series will feature a total of six multi-day criteriums, as will the season finale at the four-day Gateway Cup (September 2-5). The Sunny King Criterium is the Alabama Cycling Classic (April 9-10), the Saint Francis Tulsa Tough is three days (June 10-12), Salt Lake City has two races (July 16-17), and the Intelligencia Cup has nine races (July 22-31), Momentum Indy is two days (August 27-28).

USA Cycling has committed to supporting the series in terms of media production and may stream all or part of 2022, Weiss said.

As for title or presenting sponsors, Weiss added, "We have no product to sell yet, so we have no assets to sell. We want to walk before we run."

*Indicates a multi-day event that hosts one criterium in a series