Minneapolis – The Nature Valley Grand Prix is a unique stage race that was created specifically to appeal to an American audience. This event’s development was driven by crowd size and media coverage. Stages that performed well using those metrics were continued, while those that fell short were replaced.

The result is unlike any other stage race: a mix of urban criteriums, road races with finishing circuits and a quirky time trial that draws the largest crowds on the USA Cycling National Racing Calendar. With six stages over five days, the Nature Valley Grand Prix is the featured event of the Nature Valley Bicycle Festival, a 10-day celebration of cycling that also includes velodrome racing at the Minnesota Fixed Gear Classic, Fan Zones with Athletes’ Villages, the Rich Weiber Stunt Rider Show, Shimano kids’ fun races, expos, live music and beverages of your choice.

Both the men’s and women’s Nature Valley Grand Prix are invitationals and the fields are stacked for 2011. The women’s race may be the more dramatic. Olympic champion Kristin Armstrong had a four-year Nature Valley Grand Prix winning streak end with her retirement to start a family after winning the world championship time trial in 2009.

Her “retirement” was short-lived and Armstrong will be back to try and reclaim her crown this year. But 2010 champion Shelley Olds, who raced for Armstrong last year, returns with a different team, Diadora-Pasta Zara-Manhattan, and has plans to establish a streak of her own. Both will face stiff competition from the deepest field in the history of the Nature Valley Grand Prix.

HTC-Highroad, ranked No. 1 in the world, is sending a strong squad that includes 2010 Nature Valley Grand Prix stage winners Chloe Hosking and Evelyn Stevens. Stevens may be their team leader since the Saint Paul Time Trial and Stillwater Criterium have proven to be crucial in past editions of Nature Valley, and Stevens proved herself last year by winning Stillwater and the USA Cycling national time trial on successive weekends. But the favorite may be world road champion Giorgia Bronzini, who just won the Liberty Classic in Philadelphia with the support of her Colavita Forno D’Asolo teammates, including veteran sprinter Theresa Cliff-Ryan. Bronzini’s Director Rachel Heal seemed confident earlier in the season when she said, “With Giorgia on our squad, I’m confident that we will add Nature Valley to our roster of victories.” So far, her predictions have proven to be accurate.

On the men’s side, the unexpected happened Friday, when the UCI approved the UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team to race in its title sponsor’s backyard. Under various names, that team has won the Nature Valley Grand Prix five of the past six years, dating back to 2005, when John Lieswyn won under the team’s incarnation as HealthNet. With the U.S.-registered professional continental squad is on the start line, the favorite would have to be Rory Sutherland, going for his fourth straight title with support from sprinter Hilton Clark to grab time bonuses away from the competition.

However, UnitedHealthcare has used exactly the same strategy to win the past two years and it’s likely the other pro teams will have cracked the code. Sutherland’s chief rival may be former teammate Frank Pipp of BISSELL Pro Cycling, the top ranked team on the National Racing Calendar (NRC). Pipp won the crucial Stillwater Criterium at the Nature Valley Grand Prix in 2006 while riding for HealthNet and showed good form when he won the Joe Martin Stage Race last month. But whomever the favorite is, he will have to fend off teams like Jamis/Sutter Home and Kelly Benefit Strategies-OptumHealth Pro Cycling. The wild card in the bunch is Team Exergy, a new formation that scored a coup with the recent signing of three-time U.S. national road champion “Fast Freddie” Rodriguez as sprinter/coach.

Stage-by-Stage Capsule Glances
Saint Paul Riverfront Time Trial (Wednesday (morning) – This six-mile time trial is on a mostly flat, out-and-back course, but includes a stiff, 0.7 mile climb at the end. Time trial bikes aren’t permitted, so access to cutting-edge technology and wind tunnel testing will not provide an edge, making this a true test of rider versus rider. Time gained or lost in this time trial has often proven to be the decisive margin of victory in the final standings. In 2010, Scott Zwizanski had the “misfortune” to win this time trial and his team was forced to expend crucial energy defending the jersey all week, only to lose the jersey to a crafty Rory Sutherland in Stillwater on the last lap of the final race in Stillwater.

Downtown Saint Paul Crterium (Wednesday evening) – Riders won’t be done for the day after the Wednesday morning time trial. They will race again that evening on the other side of the Mississippi River, in the entertainment district of Downtown Saint Paul. This is a flat, fast, five-corner course that features brick sections around Rice Park and some of the most beautiful architecture in the Midwest. One change for this year is that time bonus sprints have been separated from points sprints, so riders chasing the yellow jersey won’t be competing with sprint jersey contenders. Time bonus sprints in Saint Paul and Minneapolis proved crucial last year in Shelley Olds’s final victory. Winners in Saint Paul in 2010 were Hosking (her first as a professional) and veteran speedster Clark.

Cannon Falls Road Race (Thursday) – This 67-mile road race through gently rolling, but wide open farmlands, finishes with six laps on a circuit that includes a short, steep climb to the line. Even a gentle wind can tear the pack apart. In 2006, a 17-man breakaway gained more than five minutes on  a shattered pack, taking all other riders out of contention for the overall win. A gravel road section on the way into town adds another wild card to this stage. The countryside proved to be a little too open in 2010, when the race was cancelled due to more than 40 tornado sightings across Minnesota. If the winds are calm in 2011, look for a pack sprint. If it’s windy, all bets are off.

Minneapolis Uptown Criterium (Friday) – The Uptown Criterium is the marquee event of the Nature Valley Grand Prix, attracting what many observers consider to be the largest criterium crowd in the country. Uptown is a major entertainment district that abuts dense, upscale residential neighborhoods. The flat, six-corner course and a pumped-up crowd traditionally makes for high speeds. A long drag up Lake Street leads to a short dash from the final corner to the finish line on Hennepin Avenue. Positioning coming out of the final corner will be crucial. Like Saint Paul, the time bonus and points sprints will be separate this year, forcing teams to keep close track of the laps. Last year’s race was a replay of Saint Paul, with Hosking and Clark taking the wins. A credible time trial and time bonuses gave Olds the yellow jersey in Uptown.

Menomonie Road Race (Saturday) – The Nature Valley Grand Prix returns to the hill country of Wisconsin in and around Menomonie. This is a brutal course, with twists and turns that can allow a breakaway to get out of sight and out of mind. The first major climb comes just 12 miles into races that are 81 miles for the women and 101 miles for the men. The four Sports Beans King and Queen of the Hills lines will again be categorized, and there will be plenty of hills that are not part of that competition. A great deal of damage is likely to be done out in the country, but there will be a chance to make some of the time up on the four laps of the relatively flat three-mile finishing circuits. Breakaways occurred in both races last year.  In the men’s race, the break was caught and Ken Hanson took the bunch sprint. In the women’s race, Erinne Willock and Linda Villumsen stayed away, with Willock taking the stage and Villumsen claiming the yellow jersey from Olds.

Stillwater Criterium (Sunday) – The final stage of by far the most selective, as riders who have survived the first five stages face the most brutal criterium course in North American. This signature stage of the Nature Valley Grand Prix is infamous for Chilkoot Hill, the 20 percent grade wall that climbs to the finish line. But this epic climb is followed by a false flat and then First Street Hill on the backside, where many attacks take place because riders have had no chance to recover from Chilkoot. A four-corner, white-knuckled descent brings the riders back to the foot of Chilkoot for the next lap. With its unique corners and abrupt changes in grade, experience on this idiosyncratic course is a major advantage. This is a war of attrition, with only about 30 percent of the riders completing the full distance, and most of the rest receiving calculated times that eliminate any hope of a top placing in the final overall standings. The Stillwater Criterium has often proven to be the critical factor in winning the Nature Valley Grand Prix.

In a thrilling finale to the 2010 women’s race, Villumsen cracked on the brutal Stillwater course because she hadn’t recovered from her heroic effort in Menomonie the day before. Her teammate, Stevens, won the stage, but Olds finished second to reclaim the yellow jersey. The men’s race was a carbon copy of the 2009 edition, with Sutherland, who was a few seconds behind Zwizanski, attacking at the foot of Chilkoot Hill with a little more than a lap to go. After five stages of defending the jersey, Zwizanski and his teammates couldn’t respond, allowing Sutherland to claim the stage and his third consecutive Nature Valley Grand Prix title.