USA Cycling championships shift to West Virginia to prepare for Paris Olympics

The U.S. road cycling national championships will be moving from Tennessee to West Virginia for the next five years in part to help what should be a competitive American team better mimic the courses it will face at the Paris Olympics.

USA Cycling has held its nationals in Knoxville the past seven years, but it will take place in Charleston, West Virginia, beginning May 15, 2024. The winners of the elite men’s and women’s time trial events automatically qualify for the Paris Games, which begin July 26, 2024, while the road race could also help decide who makes the Olympic team.

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The U.S. has had competitive and often dominant track cycling and BMX programs over the past few Olympic cycles, but it has largely struggled on the road. That started to change this past season, though, when Chloe Dygert won the time trial world title and Sepp Kuss won the Spanish Vuelta for the first Grand Tour win by an American rider in the past 10 years.

Dygert swept the time trial and road race national titles this past summer, allowing her to wear the stars-and-stripes jersey in both of the disciplines until May. Brandon McNulty won the men’s time trial and Quinn Simmons won the road race.