What are some stage races in your area that have Cat 2 or 2/3 fields?
This is putting the cart before the horse but I’m 7 points away from my 2 and I’d like to get to a 1. P/1/2 races are hard. Cat 2 is still hard but obviously it should be easier than a p/1/2. If you do really well you can go from Cat 2 → 1 in two weekends (20 points maximum per stage, you need 35 to upgrade).
I’d like to plan out next season and get a list of of races. I know of the big ones on the west coast (but please list any you know). I’d love to hear about some in the mid west, east coast or south.
Tucson Bicycle Classic is a 3 day stage race, short TT, ~80mile RR and ~35mile circuit race (RR with shorter laps). It’s usually a few weeks after VOS.
VOS would be a good race for you due to your TT skills. It’s a Long flat TT followed by a reasonable RR and then a short crit. So as long as you put in a good TT, the RR isn’t too hard to defend your position and then you just survive the crit.
+1 on Valley of the Sun - should be good for you Nate as the GC is most commonly decided by the TT and your ability to survive a 96 mile RR. Occasionally a break sticks it in the RR, but not often
These aren’t stage races, but both Tour of America’s Dairyland in WI and Intelligentsia Cup in Chicago have 2/3 fields and 9-10 days of crits. So while you’ll be missing on the “stage race” upgrade points, you get a ton of opportunities to pick up points.
You also might be able to count the omnium result from either as a “stage race” in your upgrade request…
Anyone have updates from this list after 2 seasons of COVID? Seems like a lot of races have folded. In CA it looks like Chico Stage Race is gone and Cascade Classic’s web domain has expired as well…