MOUNT PLEASANT — The largest competitive road cycling series in the U.S., for the first time, will be speeding into Mount Pleasant Wednesday. Headlining the day of races will be a barrier-breaking Olympian.
On day seven of the 11-day “Tour of America’s Dairyland” event, nine races in Mount Pleasant will begin at 10 a.m. Wednesday. The final race will begin at 2:40 p.m.
Some of the nation’s best cyclists will race around Braun Road, 105th Street, Highway KR and Wisconn Valley Way, a route the Mount Pleasant Tourism Commission describes as “perfect for both racers and spectators.”
All races are free to spectate.
In addition to professional cyclists, there will also be competitions in the amateur, master and junior categories, with some racers as young as 9 years old.
The Olympian scheduled to compete is Jennifer Valente, who won gold in the omnium at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, which were held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. An omnium is a multi-part race often considered the cycling world’s equivalent of track and field’s decathlon or heptathlon.
Valente’s Olympic glory came in stupefying fashion, having crashed in the final round of the omnium but getting back on the bike and maintaining a lead to win gold. She became the first American woman to win gold in Olympic track cycling.
The Mount Pleasant Tourism Commission invited the public to “Bring your family, your bike enthusiast friends, or just yourself to the course on June 22. There will be food trucks, music and the thrill of bike races all day.”
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