Criterium Riders in Beverly Hills Today

Shopping will take a back seat to cycling today on Rodeo Drive, as some of the world’s top criterium riders compete in the $25,000 Subaru Cycling Invitational in Beverly Hills.

The riders will speed along a course through the heart of Beverly Hills’ shopping district, covering Rodeo Drive, Brighton Way, Beverly Drive and Little Santa Monica Boulevard. The 20-mile, 50-lap women’s race will begin at noon, and the men’s 30-mile, 75-lap race will start at 1:30 p.m.

With the Olympic road race trials just a week away, this will be the final tuneup for most of the racers who are hoping to qualify for a trip to Seoul. According to Mike Plant, associate executive director of the U.S. Cycling Federation, there are no clear-cut favorites for the Olympic trials, which begin July 23 at Spokane, Wash.

“In both the men’s and women’s competition, it’s really wide open,” Plant said. “There are a lot of good riders. There hasn’t been one rider who has blown everyone away.”

One rider to watch on the women’s side is Bunki Bankaitis-Davis, defending champion in the Beverly Hills race. In only her second full season of competitive cycling, Bankaitis-Davis won the Postgiro race in Norway earlier this year, a race that is considered by many as the top event in women’s cycling.

Bankaitis-Davis said this will be her last major test before the Olympic trials. Only three men and three women will be chosen to represent the United States at the Olympics.

Rebecca Twigg, silver medalist in the 1984 Olympic Games, will also compete today. Named the U.S. Cycling Federation’s female athlete of the year in 1987, Twigg has struggled since resuming racing last May after a two-month layoff due to illness.

On the men’s side, professionals such as Roberto Gaggioli and Phil Anderson are expected to dominate. Gaggioli is the current points leader in the $100,000 Subaru series, and Anderson briefly held the leader’s yellow jersey in the 1985 Tour de France.