The Nevada City Classic (previously: Tour of Nevada City; Father's Day Bicycle Classic), one of the most historic and challenging professional cycling races in the US, is held in

Nevada City, California Nevada City (originally, ''Ustumah'', a Nisenan village; later, Nevada, Deer Creek Dry Diggins, and Caldwell's Upper Store) is the county seat of Nevada County, California, United States, northeast of Sacramento, southwest of Reno and northea ...

. Established in 1960, the Nevada City Classic commonly occurs on

Father's Day Father's Day is a holiday of honoring fatherhood and paternal bonds, as well as the influence of fathers in society. In Catholic countries of Europe, it has been celebrated on 19 March as Saint Joseph's Day since the Middle Ages. In the Unite ...

and brings in thousands of visitors to Nevada County. While the first race brought out approximately 1,500 spectators, the numbers have swelled to 15,000 spectators in recent years. Sponsored by the Nevada City

Chamber of commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ad ...

, the schedule includes Women's, Junior's, and Master's races, in addition to the Men’s main event. Past winners include

Greg LeMond Gregory James LeMond (born June 26, 1961) is an American former professional road racing cyclist, entrepreneur, and anti-doping advocate. A two-time winner of the Road Race World Championship (1983 and 1989) and a three-time winner of the Tou ...

Course

The 90-minute race includes 40 laps on a twisty and hilly circuit with over 300 feet of climbing. The course, basically unchanged since its advent, is considered by experts to be the toughest one-mile criterium in the United States.

History

Established in 1960, the Nevada City Classic is the largest and oldest bicycle race on the

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

, as well as the second-oldest bicycle race in the country. It was initiated by Charlie Allert, a native of

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

, Germany, who had been a bicycle racer and master lithographer before arriving in Nevada City by way of San Francisco. With a course laid out by Allert, the first race was held on Father's Day 1961. The 1961 and 1962 races were won by Bob Tetzlaff, a

Los Gatos Los Gatos (, ; ) is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population is 33,529 according to the 2020 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area just southwest of San Jose in the foothills of th ...

school teacher. Starting in 1963 when he was 18 years old, Bob Parsons from Pasadena won the race the next five years.

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the ...

won in 1970.

was the winner for the three consecutive years of 1979-81 and he was subsequently honored when the Nevada City City Council proclaimed August 11, 1986 as "Greg LeMond Day". Todd Gogulski (1986, 1988),

Scott Moninger Scott Moninger is an American professional road racing cyclist. He was born October 20, 1966 in Atlanta, Georgia, grew up in Wichita, Kansas, and moved to Boulder, Colorado, in the mid 1980s to further his career in cycling. Moninger turned profess ...

(1994, 1997, 1999, 2006),

Alexi Grewal Alexi Singh Grewal (born September 8, 1960) is an American Olympic gold medalist and former professional road racing cyclist. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, Grewal became the first American man to win an Olympic gold medal in road ...

(1993), and

Levi Leipheimer Levi Leipheimer (born October 24, 1973) is an American former professional road racing cyclist. He was twice US national champion, winning the time trial title in 1999 and the road race in 2007, and is an Olympic medalist. Leipheimer was born a ...

(1998) also took the top spot. Having participated in the race 19 years earlier,

Lance Armstrong Lance Edward Armstrong ('' né'' Gunderson; born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road racing cyclist. Regarded as a sports icon for winning the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005 after recovering fr ...

returned in 2009, and won using illegal drugs and methods, and has been disqualified with the result voided It was hailed at the time as the first victory of his comeback as it preceded his return to the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

. Ian Boswell was the winner in 2010. In 1997, the race was designated a National Classic Pro Points Race, and thirteen years later, in 2010, its course became the starting point of the Stage 1 of the

Tour of California The Tour of California (officially sponsored as the Amgen Tour of California) was an annual professional road cycling stage race on the UCI World Tour and USA Cycling Professional Tour that ran from 2006 to 2019. It was the only event on the ...

References

External links

Official website
{{coord missing, Nevada County, California Cycle races in the United States Cycling in California Tourist attractions in Nevada County, California Recurring sporting events established in 1960 1960 establishments in California Men's road bicycle races Nevada City, California