Fort Collins, Colo. (May 5, 2009) – The USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships will head to Fort Collins, Colo. for the second year in a row, May 7-10. Nearly 500 student-athletes representing more than 60 colleges and universities from across the country will compete to win one of 18 cycling national titles.

The USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships, hosted by the Colorado State University Rams in partnership with the Fort Collins Cycling Festival, will see hundreds of men and women from Division I and Division II institutions compete for individual championships in three categories – criterium, road race and individual omnium. The collegiate squads will also fight for team titles in both the team time trial event and the prestigious overall team (omnium) classification, which combines results from all three races, both male and female. After edging Colorado State University and Fort Lewis College for the road team omnium crown last year, Lees-McRae College will be looking for the DI repeat in 2009. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology will also be on hand to defend their DII title after surging to defeat Dartmouth last year in Fort Collins.

Competition will begin Friday, May 8 with the road race at 8:00 a.m. starting and finishing at CSU’s Hughes Stadium. On Saturday, schools will compete in a criterium in Old Town Fort Collins beginning at 8:00 a.m. Sunday’s racing will feature a team time trial competition starting and finishing at the intersection of Buckeye and Lake Roads north of Fort Collins.

Cycling is one of few collegiate sports to equally weigh the male and female performances to determine an overall, season-long team winner across all disciplines. At the 2009 USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships, last season’s overall defending champions Fort Lewis College and MIT will be looking to hold on to their overall team Division I and II season crowns. Heading into the final USA Cycling Collegiate Cycling National Championship of this season the competition remains very tight in both the DI and DII overall team omnium standings. In DI only a single point separates rivals Lees-McRae College and Fort Lewis College, while each of the top four DII squads, MIT, Colorado College, the Colorado School of Mines and Western Washington University, remain within four points of each other. Click here to view the complete DI standings and click here to view the complete DII standings.

In addition to a national championship, the women’s competition in Fort Collins will once again serve as a qualifier for the Ryan Collegiate All Stars – a female composite team of six different student-athletes from six different schools who finish among the top of the final omnium standings. These select athletes will earn an invitation to the Nature Valley Grand Prix, one of the highest-ranked stage races on USA Cycling’s National Racing Calendar held in and around Minneapolis, Minn., June 10-14. The final individual omnium standings at the USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships will determine the all-star squad that will compete alongside some of the nation’s top pro women. In addition to an invitation to Minnesota, the team will receive housing, a travel stipend, clothing and the direction of a team manager throughout the week. For more information and complete qualification procedures, visit http://www.ryancollegiateallstars.com.