During the week of June 15-19th, the Nature Valley Grand Prix, a professional cycling stage series, comes to the Twin Cities. I've been to the event several times, as its always one of my favorite sporting events to watch.
There are 6 stages, the first two being in St. Paul. I attended the second race in St. Paul, the downtown Criterium. The announcers made it fun, even though it was raining just before the race began. Fortunately, it looked like the course dried up pretty well. The riders did a loop of something around a mile, 28 times for the women, and 40 times for the men. The race had some drama, especially with the women's field, which was stacked with some of the top professionals.
I was also able to attend the Minneapolis criterium 2 days later. Lots of people showed up for this race, including cycling legend Greg LeMond. He was on the stage with the announcers, and mentioned how he liked the kids "ride" that took place between the womens and mens event. It must have been pretty special for some of the pros, who no doubt look up to LeMond. While the kids ride and mens race were great, the womens race once again had drama, only this time, it ended with 3 people going to the hospital. There was a massive crash going into the last lap of the race. Many riders were down and it took a while to pull everyone out. Due to the crash, race officials decided to call off the race and not count it towards the results.
Having a professional cycling event in Minnesota is a real treat, and I look forward to attending again in the future. Now, to catch some of the Tour de France, which starts this weekend!
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