Chicago, IL – Intelligentsia Coffee is continuing its commitment to top-level American bike racing by renewing its title sponsorship of the Intelligentsia Cup powered by SRAM, a multi-day omnium road cycling race series around Chicagoland during mid-July. The two-year title sponsorship runs through 2018 and will mark five years of support of the series.
“I’m pleased that the series continues to grow and happy that Intelligentsia has been a part of that. It has quickly become one of the largest race series in the country and this year we hope it becomes the biggest,” said Intelligentsia Coffee founder Doug Zell.
“Our goal at Intelligentsia is to support and give back to the cycling community. By doing things correctly the series has done that for us, and at the same time has become a truly international caliber cycling event.”
“What I enjoy most about the event is that while it is highly competitive across all the races there is a spirit of conviviality and community that encompasses everything, creating an atmosphere that is quintessentially midwestern and unlike any other event.”
Beginning as the Prairie State Cycling Series in 2012 Intelligentsia Coffee joined a year later, renaming the series as well as expanding to seven races. In 2014 the series grew to eight races — seven criteriums and a road race. The series has hosted the Illinois State Road Racing Championships since 2015 and will again this year.
‘Intelligentsia Coffee has been an amazing supporter of our race series, and our success would not be possible without them,” said series partner and former pro cyclist Tom Schuler. ‘Thanks to their support we will continue our efforts to expand high-level bicycle racing in the Chicago area.”
In 2016 the series added a new junior category to support the development of younger racers, after expanding the amount of categories for women in 2015. The 2017 Intelligentsia Cup p/b SRAM will feature new venues with the goal to expand to a full ten days of racing, thanks to the continued support from Intelligentsia Coffee.