Project Echelon Racing, organizer of the Virtual Tour of the Gila, announced Monday that the event has drawn the top North American teams for the three-stage race, which will take place May 22-24.

The event will provide a race platform for 25 men's teams with 155 starters and 11 women's teams with 75 starters, including the U.S. women's national team.

"Project Echelon Racing is creating an opportunity for North American and international men's and women's national elite professional teams to connect during a coronavirus pandemic (and beyond) and a platform for athletes to continue to compete and connect with cycling fans and the community. We are excited to create a platform for athletes to continue to compete and connect with cycling fans and the community," the company said in a press statement.

." Additionally, we hope that this event will provide a unique opportunity for teams and athletes to create authentic content for their sponsors so that they can continue to support them during this challenging time."

The 25 men's teams participating in the event include Project Echelon Racing, Elevate-Webiplex, Landis-Trek, Above & Beyond, CS Velo, DC Bank Probaclac, E-Stellas, First Internet Bank, Hamilton United, Kelly Benefit Strategies, L39ON of LA, Red Truck Racing, Rio Grande Elite, Saris + The Pro's Closet, Skyline, Subaru Santa Monica, Super Clean Sport, TaG Cycling, California p/b HMS, Vorarlberg Santic, Team Tor 2000-Kalas, Toronto Hustle, Vitus Pro, Wildlife Generation.

The 11 women's teams include TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank, Twenty20 Pro Cycling, Velocity Vixen, Agolio BMC, Amy D. Foundation, Femme Equipe-Swisse Wellness and Impetu Ciclismo Femenino, as well as the US National Team.

The competition will consist of three stages, beginning with a team time trial on May 22, followed by a circuit race on May 23 and a mountain stage on May 24. Both men and women will compete on the same course and over the same distance. The women's race will begin at 6:45 pm CDT, and the men's race will begin at 8:00 pm CDT for the opening stage. The second and third stages will start at 11:00 a.m. CDT for the men and 1:00 p.m. CDT for the women. Each stage will be streamed on Zwift Community Live.

Tour of the Gila organizers announced in March that the race had to be canceled due to the COVID-19 coronavirus. The race was originally scheduled to be held in Silver City, New Mexico from April 29 to May 3. USA Cycling then announced that all races, camps, and clinics would be canceled through May 31, and the race would either be canceled or postponed until later in the season.

"It has been amazing to see how these events have grown over the past two months," said Eric Hill, director of Project Echelon, the virtual race series that made the Virtual Redlands Classic a success.

"We started promoting these races through meetups as a way to do something fun and stay competitive. Now we have private events that are broadcast live and bring together an elite group of international athletes."