Did you read about Gran Premio New York, the only single-day UCI road race in the United States in 2024? And one of only three events in the United States?
It was covered by Wielerrevue, Wielerflits, DirectVelo, and Revista Mundo Cyclistico, among others. Complete results are here.
Gran Fondo New York has been a staple of the Gran Fondo scene since it first appeared in 2011, and a global brand. A UCI race to lead the amateur race has been a vision of race founder Ulrich Flume for years. In 2023, the course was changed to meet Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) specifications, with the intention of having the inaugural UCI version of the race in 2024.
The UCI race took place ahead of the Gran Fondo. A 1.2, or “Class 2,” event, it awards UCI points to the first ten finishers of the race, something teams chase for their year-end rankings. 40 points for the winner at GPNY, compared to 200 points to the winner of a UCI ProSeries event. But the GPNY had the unfortunate distinction of occurring in the midst of not only the Giro d’Italia, but also on the same day as the United States National Road Championships.
And, as befitting a new event on busy weekend, the racers showing up weren’t necessarily household names. At least not yet. Belgian Alpecin-Decucninck and Lotto-Dstny, WorldTour teams, sent their development squads. Italian squads Bardiani-CSF and Corratec-Vini Fantini, seen regularly attacking at major Italian Races, were the two second-division teams in attendance. Canel’s from Mexico, Team Medellin from Colombia, Mito-Q from New Zealand, Hustle Pro Cycling from Canada all brought international flavor. Project Echelon was the cream of the American teams, though their best riders were competing at Nationals. Local pro team Skyline-Cadence Pro Cycling was the best of the locals, with club and composite teams (the GFNY squad had Tour de France stage winner (and 60 year-old) Raul Alcala signing in for them).
The race started at 7am on the George Washington Bridge. 136.3km later, after 3:04:2o seconds Del Grosso was the first across the finish line.
Here are some images of the race from Marco Quezada.
The race was on the bridge early. The Gran Fondo riders started assembling at 5am, with the pro riders getting there between 6 and 6:30am for a 7am pro start, 7:15 amateur start.
There was no parade, no netural kilometers to the GPNY and GFNY. The race is short by pro standards, and getting into good position before the entry to the Palisades Interstate Park is something most riders wanted.
Seasoned pros mixing with aspiring amateurs typically makes for fast racing.
That’s El Nino, Oscar Sevilla, stringing out the field. Nearing 50, he left his European pro career behind after Operacion Puerto to re-start in Colombia.
All the strong riders were active early. With the two biggest hills appearing on the course around the halfway point, there were good reasons to be aggressive.
The wide ramp of the helix into Haverstraw helped turbocharge the rapid pace of the race.
With the field often strung out, the strong riders were easy to identify.
For local cyclists, it’s humbling to check Strava and see how the GPNY field obliterated most of the KoMs en route. But, to be fair, they didn’t take them all, and Del Grosso was only the 25th fastest up Gate Hill, which you see above, with fourth-place finisher Milan Donie of Lotto-Dstny setting a pace no one could follow. The guy on his wheel, Javier Jamaica, was also a pre-race favorite.
While Del Grosso has a great pedigree, Wilmar Paredes looked like the man to beat. Recently third at both the Pan American Championships and the Tour of the Gila (one of two UCI stage races in the US), he’s been having a great season.
Downtown West Nyack is often this empty on non-race days as well.
The Gate Hill and Cheesecote climbs broke up the race for good. The Bardiani team missed it, while Corratec had only one rider in the break. Bardiani did what they could, but by Stateline, they were done. Their best rider finished 42nd.
The first chase group cruised back in to New Jersey, with the break just barely ahead. But it was four chasing four, as the Alpecin rider, Guus van den Eijnden was sitting on, as he had two teammates in the break. The chase never caught, with only 34 seconds separating the two groups. Van den Eijnden won the sprint for fifth, giving Alpecin two riders in the top five.
Del Grosso is only 20 years old. Not of legal drinking age in New Jersey. Perhaps that’s why he’s spraying the other riders.
Splendid report!