A Closer Look At The NRC – The Teams

Posted on 12. Apr, 2011 by lyne in news

After taking a closer look at the races, it’s now time to examine the changes that impact Team Classification scoring on USA Cycling’s NRC. More specifically, the rules were modified this year to limit which riders and teams can accrue points throughout the year.

As part of the changes, a new type of team targeted at amateur teams, the Domestic Elite Team, was created with a whole set of rules and a registration fee.

Simply put, there are three ways for a team to be included in the NRC Team Classification:

• register with USA Cycling as a UCI team at any level; no additional fee to participate in NRC team ranking
• register with USA Cycling as a foreign-UCI team and pay the $250.00 registration fee
• register as a Domestic Elite Team and pay the $250.00 fee

Any rider that races at NRC events will have his/her points accrued in the Individual Standings but the points will only be accrued in the Team Classification if his/her team is registered with USA Cycling. Guest riders are allowed to ride with a given team at a designated event, with a release from his/her registered club, but will not score any team points.

Confused? Let’s use Jonathan Cantwell of V Australia as an example. He just won the Sunny King Criterium and sits in third, with 100 points, in the NRC Individual Standings. But his V Australia, though registered as a UCI Continental Team in Australia is not part of the NRC registered teams and therefore his team does not show in the NRC Team Classification.

V Australia, racing here at NRC opener Redlands Bicycle Classic, cannot accrue NRC Team Points

The teams. A total of 52 teams are participating in the Team Classification with 40 men’s teams and 12 women’s teams. The list includes 23 amateur men’s teams and 8 amateur women’s teams that are now Domestic Elite Teams.

Only two foreign-registered UCI teams are part of the pool: PureBlack Racing, a UCI Continental team registered in New Zealand and Colavita Forno d’Asolo. Racing on two continents, Colavita Forno d’Asolo has chosen to have a UCI Women’s team with 15 riders registered in Italy and a team based in the US. Therefore, they have 23 riders on the roster that can accrue NRC points in the USA.

UCI Continental Teams (Men)
	Bissell Pro Cycling Team	BPC
	Chipotle Development Team	CDT
	Jamis/Sutter Home	JSH
	Jelly Belly Cycling Team presented by Kenda	JBC
	Kelly Benefit Strategies-OptumHealth	KBS
	Kenda/5-Hour Energy Pro Cycling presented by Geargrinder	KPC
	RealCyclist.com Cycling Team	RCC
	Team Exergy	XRG
	Trek Livestrong U23 Team	TLS
	Wonderful Pistachios Cycling	WPC
UCI Pro Continental Teams (Men)
	Team Spidertech powered by C10	CSM
	Team Type 1 – sanofi aventis	TT1
	UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling	UHC
UCI Pro Teams (Men)
	BMC Racing Team	BMC
	HTC-HighRoad	THR
	Team Garmin-Cervelo	GRM
	Team Radioshack	RSH
UCI Women
	Diadora Pasta Zara	DPZ
	HTC-HighRoad Women	TCW
	Juvederm-Specialized	JSD
	Team TIBCO/To the Top	TIB
NRC Elite Teams – Men
	ABD Cycling Team
	BikeReg.com/Cannondale Elite Amateur Cycling Team
	California Giant Berry Farms/Specialized
	Canyon Bicycles Elite Team
	CashCall Mortgage
	Chemstar p/b UnitedHealthcare Elite Cycling Team
	Cleveland Clinic Sports Health-RGF Cycling pb Felt
	ELBOWZ Racing
	Hagens Berman Cycling
	Kelly Benefit Strategies/Lateral Stress Velo
	Mercy Elite Cycling Team
	Nova Cycle Ports Foundation Inc
	Nuvo Cultural Trail Cycling Team
	PureBlack Racing (UCI)	PBR
	RideClean p/b Patentit.com
	Ski Utah-MarketStar
	SKLZ p/b Pista Palace
	Stan’s NoTubes/AXA Equitable/CRCA
	Team Globalbike
	Team Mountain Khakis p/b SmartStop
	Team Rio Grande Racing Inc.
	Texas Roadhouse Cycling Team
	X/O Communications/Battley H-D
NRC Elite Teams – Women
	ABD Cycling Team
	Colavita Forno d’Asolo (UCI)	FCL
	Missing Link Coaching Systems/Specialized
	Nova Cycle Ports Foundation Inc
	Primal/MapMyRide Women’s Racing
	Rouse Bicycles Elite Women’s Team
	Team Kenda p/b Gear Grinder
	Team Rio Grande Racing Inc.



The rules. All teams vying for NRC Team Rankings must follow certain rules.

First is the size and make-up of the team. A team can register up to 25 riders racing with cat1/2 for women or pro/cat1 license for men. UCI teams may register additional “domestic” riders in addition to their UCI roster riders up to the maximum of 25 combined where these riders can be amateur, but must wear the same jersey and will be counted toward the eight-rider maximum. This is exactly what Colavita Forno d’Asolo did. All riders registered must consist of Women’s category 1 or 2 and Men’s pro/category 1 riders only.

For UCI men’s and women’s teams, the UCI-registered riders are subject to UCI rules on age (for example. the majority of the riders must be under 28 on UCI Continental teams). No age restriction for riders on domestic elite teams nor for the domestic riders added onto UCI teams.

Both UCI and Domestic Elite teams have a limit of non-American riders. For UCI Continental teams registered through USA Cycling, 60 percent of the riders must be American citizens with USA. UCI codes. For UCI women’s teams, a plurality of the riders must be American citizens with USA UCI codes (i.e. U.S.A. must be the most represented single nation among the team). For domestic elite teams or domestic riders added onto the UCI rosters, 80 percent of the riders must be American citizens.

Teams can only change their registered riders a few times a year. UCI Teams may only change riders on their rosters following the UCI rules. Domestic Elite teams may change or add domestic riders to their NRC teams twice during the season, which will be at the end of May and the end of July. Changes received by May 20, 2011, will go into effect on June 1. Changes received by July 20 will go into effect on August 1.

Our last NRC post will look at how points are calculated.

Tags: nrc