The Sunshine Grand Prix and the beginning of the USA Criterium Series

The Sunshine Grand Prix and the beginning of the USA Criterium Series kicked off this past weekend. Several teams riding Stradalli Cycles found themselves at the front of the action and on the podium this weekend in Tampa, Florida. Hundreds of the best racers from all over the United States traveled to Florida this weekend for the start of the 4 day race omnium.

Ruben Companioni, former Stradalli – Safetti racer and family friend, won Saturday evening’s Criterium ahead of Holowesko – Citadel presented by Hincapie and Astellas Professional Cycling Team. Over 80 racers started the professional race and riders from multiple teams riding Stradalli Cycles took top spots in the finish.

Finish Strong Cycling Team, a new partner of Stradalli Cycle for 2016, took the sprint points jersey after two days of racing in the Sunshine Grand Prix while taking many top placings in the process. Finish Strong presented by Stradalli Cycle is targeting all the top level national races on the calendar in 2016. Last year Finish Strong took the overall title and many podium spots in the USA Criterium Series last year. This weekend began their defense of the best overall team title in the USA Criterium Series.

Stradalli – Safetti Cycling Team put new rider Enrique Lopez on the podium of Stage 2 of the Sunshine Grand Prix after 60 miles of fast racing. This is a great result for the Stradalli – Safetti team against the some of the best riders the United States has to offer.

Stradalli Cycle – Papa John’s Women’s Elite Team got on the podium on in the first USA Criterium Series of the year on Saturday against a very competitive professional field of elite racers. This weekend was the first test at high level racing for the new women’s outfit and they took high placings in both races and took the sprint points leader’s jersey.

Wizard Development Team presented by Stradalli Cycle was also in attendance this weekend at the Sunshine Grand Prix. The development team has been taking top placings at the regional level all year and capitalized on those results with a strong 10^th place finish from young rider Justin Pfaff. Pfaff recently returned from a stint in California where he took his Stradalli R7 to San Francisco, California for training and topped off his time there with the Chico Stage Race.

Texas Roadhouse also had a successful weekend with races in Tampa, Florida, St. Louis, Missouri and Tennessee. Texas Roadhouse has been a successful elite cycling team for many years and is already continuing that trend in 2016.

The Sunshine Grand Prix and USA Criterium Series will continue next weekend in Clearwater, Florida.

Women’s Stradalli / Papa John’s Elite Team Getting Ready For Sunshine Grand Prix

Florida based Stradalli Cycles /Papa John's woman’s race team

Florida based Stradalli Cycles /Papa John's woman’s race team is all geared up to travel  to various US racing events covering the Pro Road Tour Calendar and USA Crit Series in 2016 but first this Domestic Elite Woman’s team will  be participating in a big charitable event, March 12th and 13th. The team will ride 160 miles across Florida on there Stradalli R7 carbon bikes in “The Pan Florida  Challenge”.

Hunger in children is an epidemic. Florida has over 1 MILLION hungry kids (1 in 4), ranking 5^th worst in the nation. The Annual Pan-Florida Challenge (PFC) for Hungry Kids, this year in its 3^rd year, was founded to do something about this problem. This year the PFC will have over 100 riders cycling more than 160 miles from Naples to West Palm Beach; 100% of riders’ funds raised will provide meals for children in Florida and Haiti who often find themselves with no food from the time they leave school on Friday until they come back to school on Monday morning. This year’s goal is to provide 1,000,000 meals to those food-insecure kids – a bold increase over last year’s 700,000 meals.

The Stradalli Cycles / Papa John’s Elite Woman’s team will be riding along side the other riders on Saturday and Sunday to bring awareness to this cause. They will bring a level of professional cycling, energy, and fun to this group of riders, many of whom have been training hard for months in order to make it across the state in 2 days. Good fun, and a great cause!