Harassment, racist fliers mar Aevolo's championship weekend
Aevolo Cycling's sweep of the U23 races last weekend at the USA Cycling Amateur Road Championships in Hagerstown, Maryland, marked a high-point for the second-year development team, but several incidents of harassment and the discovery of racist fliers near the team hotel in Clear Spring cast a pall over an otherwise successful weekend.
Hagerstown, which has a population of more than 40,000 and is just over an hour's drive northwest of Baltimore, served as the hub for the championship weekend, which featured a time trial on July 26 in Boonsboro, road races in Clear Spring on July 27 and 28, and a final criterium on Sunday, July 29, in downtown Hagerstown.
Team director Mike Creed told Cyclingnews the trouble occurred in Clear Spring, a town 12 miles west of Hagerstown with a population of about 350.
Creed said that during the July 27 road race around Clear Spring, one of his riders was dropped, slipping out of the back of the peloton and eventually outside the protection of the rolling road enclosure. While he was chasing to get back on, a driver on the road approached the rider and threw something, striking him in the face and drawing blood.
That day ended well with a solo win for Aevolo's Alex Hoehn, but there was another incident the following day while the team was on a recovery ride in the same area. The Aevolo riders were "buzzed" by an automobile driver, who Creed says cursed at them and told them to get off the road or he would run them over.
"Since then I've gotten tweets from other incidents, like Missy Erickson had somebody threaten her," Creed said.
— Aevolo Cycling (@Aevolo_Cycling) July 30, 2018
— Michael Creed (@Michael_Creed) July 30, 2018
— Michael Creed (@Michael_Creed) July 30, 2018
— Michael Creed (@Michael_Creed) July 30, 2018
— Missy Erickson (@missyerickson) July 31, 2018
— Chris Dennis (@tall_chris) July 31, 2018
— Stephanie Divine (@sdivine1982) July 31, 2018
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