Skylar Schneider battles Rylee McMullen in 'race within the race' at American Criterium Cup finale

Skylar Schneider (Miami Blazers) looks to go eight for eight with podium finishes at the final round of the American Criterium Cup on Sunday in St. Louis, Missouri. Even without a victory in the Giro Della Montagna, it’s just a formality for the Miami Blazers rider to be crowned the individual women’s champion. 

However, there is still a lot on the line for the final pieces of the eight-race ACC prize purse that totals $100,000. The individual prize money goes 10 deep, with $44,000 divided equally among men and women. And from the overall purse there is another $12,000 for the top three women and men from mid-race sprint classification points. 

On the men’s side, REIGN Storm Racing riders Jordan Parra or Alfredo Rodriguez will claim the men’s individual title at the conclusion of the Giro Della Montagna on Sunday, while teammate Danny Summerhill has dominated the sprint classification title for a second year. No surprise, they are the top men’s team as well.

Rylee McMullen (DNA Pro Cycling) trails Skylar Schneider by one point in the points classification and battles last year’s women’s winner Paola Muñoz (now with Goldman EFT Racing) for second overall. 

“I am really excited to race the final ACC event with DNA, this series has been a focus for our team all year. We have several goals for the weekend of racing and obviously Sunday’s ACC race is important,” McMullen told Cycling News.

“I’m just coming off a stage race in Colombia, but I’m feeling good and excited to be back racing crits with a strong DNA squad. It’s been an exciting series, especially with the really competitive teams and my race within the race with Skylar.”

The New Zealander is fresh off the six-stage Vuelta a Colombia Femenina, where she scored two top 10s, including second on stage 4, and helped teammate Nadia Gontova to second on GC. It’s one of the final races for the DNA Pro Cycling squad, as the team management announced the squad would fold at the end of this year after 12 years. 

Skylar Schneider has been the most consistent of the women’s riders in the ACC, and she locked up the individual ACC crown with the win at Littleton Twilight Criterium on August 3. Kendall Ryan (L39ION of Los Angeles) has the most ACC wins, three, and Kim Stoveld (Automatic ABUS Racing) won in her only ACC appearance at Downer Classic in Wisconsin, and both will not be racing the Gateway Cup events.

Watch for Marlies Mejias (Virginia’s Blue Ridge Twenty24) to defend last year’s victory in the Giro Della Montagna. She has only competed in two other ACC races and won the IU Health Momentum Indy in June. 

McMullen has more than just the sprint classification on the line. She looks to hold off Paola Muñoz (Goldman EFT Racing) from second-place overall and help DNA Pro Cycling solidify their lead in the team standings ahead of Miami Blazers. DNA is yet to score a race win and they will be going all out with the Kiwi sprinter McMullen as well as US rider Makayla Macpherson, who is fifth overall and only a few points ahead of Alexis Magner (L39ION of Los Angeles).

Pro men

For the men, it is all about REIGN Storm Racing, who could take all the prizes of the 2024 ACC. Not only has the team won five of the seven races with four different riders, they have also secured $22,500 of the final ACC prize purse through constant domination. Parra currently leads the overall, having won Boise Twilight and posting podiums at four of five other races. 

Alfredo Rodriguez, who was second overall at last year’s ACC on another team, has a pair of wins and is second overall. REIGN Storm riders Fergus Arthur and Bryan Gomez have been race winners as well. 

Points leader Danny Summerhill has two podiums and is a two-time men’s champion from Giro Della Montagna so may be on the hunt for three in a row.

“I think the strength of the team speaks for itself when you read off the list of results we have had this year,” Summerhill, the 2023 ACC champion, told Cycling News.

“I have enjoyed being part of a team with this much depth, skill and desire to win the races we go to.”

Clever Martinez (Rockland Development), Lucas Bourgoyne (Austin Outlaws), Ben Oliver (Above + Beyond Cancer Cycling) and Noah Granigan (Miami Blazers) are in tight bunch fighting for spots in the top 5. Granigan and Bourgoyne both have third-place finishes in ACC events, so look to move up.

For the men’s team title, Austin Outlaws, Miami Blazers and Above + Beyond Cancer are in the running for podium positions behind REIGN Storm.

Race details

Giro Della Montagna is one of four races this weekend that make up the Bommarito Audi West County Gateway Cup, which has provided a series of criteriums in St. Louis neighborhoods since 1986.

The four-corner, one-mile course is in a neighborhood near St. Louis called ‘The Hill, and it is a hill that defines the circuit. Riders go across the top of the punchy climb on the backstretch of the rectangular route between corners two and three. This sets up the final two corners for the descent to the long finish straight on Marconi Avenue.

A livestream on the ACC YouTube channel will broadcast both ACC races on Sunday, beginning at 4:00 p.m. CST for the elite women’s race and finishing at 7:20 p.m. CST when the elite men’s race has finished. The livestream, produced by Wild & Curious in St. Louis, will include drone footage, multiple course-side camera positions and a new first-person POV commentary from former pro cyclist Daniel Holloway.