The Maryland Cycling Classic supported by United Healthcare has announced a roster of seven elite athletes as brand and community ambassadors for its weekend of events taking place on September 1-4, 2022.
The brand & community ambassadors are:
- Nelson Vails, an Olympic silver medallist in track cycling;
- Rahsaan Bahati, a former US National Champion in criterium;
- Mari Holden, an Olympic silver medallist and former world-champion in time trial;
- Bobby Julich, a past podium finisher in the Tour de France;
- Fred Rodriguez, the only four-time US Professional Champion in road racing;
- Jock Boyer, the first American to race in the Tour de France in 1981, and
- Adrien Niyonshuti, the first black African to race in cycling in the Olympics.
Nelson Vails, a native of Brooklyn, NY, became the first African American to win a cycling medal in the Olympics, and was recently featured in The Cheetah Story, a documentary about his life.
Rahsaan Bahati is a native of Los Angeles and a former national champion who still actively races at an elite level. He is founder of Bahati Racing and Bahati Foundation, mentoring inner-city youth.
Mari Holden is Asian-American and a native of California now living in Colorado Springs, CO. She won her medal at the Sydney Olympics and followed up later that year by winning the UCI World Championships in the individual time trial. She now works with the USA Cycling Foundation and helped launch its Let’s Ride program.
Bobby Julich began his career with a bang, finishing fifth overall in the 1990 Tour de Trump as an amateur racing for the US National Team. His race career included a third-place finish in the 1998 Tour de France. He is currently one-half of the popular ‘Bobby & Jens’ podcast distributed by Outside.
Fred Rodriquez has been one of the most prominent Latino-American professional cyclists, and one of only a handful of Americans to win a stage of the Giro d’Italia. He is also the only four-time US Professional Champion in road racing, winning his last title in 2013.
Jock Boyer was the first American to race the Tour de France in 1981, topping off at 12th overall in the 1983 race. He has gone on to establish the trans-continental Africa Rising program and was also one of the main characters in the award-winning Rising from Ashes documentary.
Adrien Niyonshuti was the star of the Rising from Ashes documentary. He was a Rwandan who suffered loss of several family members during the country’s civil war. Under the coaching of Jock Boyer, he became the first black African to participate in the Olympics at the 2012 Games. Niyonshuti currently coaches and provides leadership and mentoring for African cyclists, including those at an academy in his native Rwanda.
The group of Maryland Cycling Classic ambassadors will be featured in various community functions throughout the weekend of activities, including the community Bike Jam at Patterson Park on Thursday, September 1.
Ambassadors will also be featured as guests of the Bridges of Hope of Ride on Saturday, September 3, which begins in Sparks, MD, at the Kelly Benefits headquarters and takes riders on parts of the route the pros will race the next day. The event benefits the UnitedHealthcare Children’s Fund.
“We are thrilled to welcome this incredible group of world class athletes to the inaugural Maryland Cycling Classic,” said John Kelly, Maryland Cycling Classic’s Event Chair and President of Kelly Benefits Strategies.
“Fans will have the opportunity to meet and interact with our ambassadors throughout the weekend of events as they share their unique perspectives and experiences about the importance of increasing diversity in the sport of cycling.”
Host partners of the Maryland Cycling Classic supported by UnitedHealthcare include the City of Baltimore, Visit Baltimore, Baltimore County, and the State of Maryland.
The event is sanctioned by the UCI and USA Cycling and is managed and marketed by Medalist Sports of Peachtree City, GA, and KOM Sports Marketing of Colorado Springs, CO. The event is a production of the Sport & Entertainment Corporation of Maryland, led by President Terry Hasseltine.
