The third stop on the summer-long professional series in the United States takes place during the 11 days of racing around Wisconsin at the Tour of America’s Dairyland.
The Downer Avenue Classic is the biggest criterium on the eleven-race circuit and was one of the foundational races that encouraged the Tour of America’s Dairyland organizers to bring over a week of racing to the upper-midwestern state 16 years ago.
Downer, as it is referred to by most, is a unique triangular course through the Downer Woods neighborhood on Milwaukee’s vibrant East Side with the course situated only a stone's throw away from the shore of Lake Michigan. What’s more, the course, which is essentially a right triangle with a quick two-part final turn, is equal parts city street and quaint neighborhoods.
On the long finishing straight along the broad Downer Avenue, the peloton will fly past crowds of fans and the small-city storefronts of the neighborhood. On the two other straightaways, tall trees, and verdant front lawns of old family homes. With the summer weather in full flight and a strong local community, the race is a gem that brings out thousands of spectators along both the finishing straight and the barbeques and lawn parties that dot the back two straightaways.
As for the racing? With only three turns and plenty of open space, Downer’s 0.84-mile course is perfect for flat-out racing. Expect to see high average speeds and long single-file racing as the strongest riders try to break free from the sprinters. Results have gone both ways over the years, as large preem offerings throw different tactics into the mix to make the racing just that little bit more exciting.
With the prestige of over 45 years of history, large cash primes, and valuable ACC points on offer, Downer has once again attracted huge fields of the men’s and women’s peloton to vie for the title. To get you set before the racing begins, here is the full preview of stop three of the American Crit Cup calendar.
Where does the Downer Avenue Criterium take place? The Downer Avenue Criterium takes place in the East Side neighborhood of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
What is the date and time of the event? Both races will take place on Saturday, June 27th with the women starting their 75-minute race at 4:30 PM Central Time and the men following with their 75-minute race at 7:00 pm Central Time.
What are the course attributes? The Downer Ave criterium is a flat 0.84-mile triangular loop with two back-to-back final corners coming before a long finishing straight.
How many editions have there been? The Downer Ave Criterium is celebrating its 46th anniversary this June.
Who won the event in 2024? Kimbery Stoveld and Bryan Gomez took solo wins at Downer Avenue in 2024.
The Tour of America’s Dairyland is known for its “Wisconsin nice” small-town circuits, with small storefronts mixing with brilliant front-lawn neighborhoods across the eastern side of the state to provide eleven spectacular days of racing across the duration of the event. Downer Avenue and the iconography of the Downer community set the tone which the rest of the races have been built upon.
In fact, Downer Avenue is one of the big reasons why the Tour of America’s Dairyland has Wisconsin communities coming to the organizers with hopes of racing instead of them having to approach the town to fill their calendar. With Downer, there is no doubt about the security of the event's future as it is baked into the community. It is truly Wisconsin racing at its finest and brings prestige to the ACC with its notoriety and history.
Part of the effectiveness of the Downer Avenue event is the simplicity of the course. It is long at 0.84 miles and flat with only around 10 feet of climbing per lap, but that doesn’t do the race justice as it provides the perfect stage for powerful racers to dictate the proceedings. With that setup to build from, the race becomes a power struggle as the opportunity for a potential breakaway is around each one of the three corners. In 2024, Kimberley Stoveld took that opportunity with both hands with her solo win after a late-stage attack.
Nevertheless, should it stay together after the breakaway attempts and preem sprints, the finish is one for the most powerful finishers as the two final turns set up a massive straightaway to the line where there is ample room for both a last-ditch lead out or a fast closing upset near the line as we saw last year in the men’s race. Whatever the outcome, expect a ruckus party as thousands of fans will come to celebrate another Saturday summer bike race on the East Side of Milwaukee.
With two ACC stops in the bag for the summer, Downer Avenue will have some familiar names heading up the fight for the win and points in the summer-long quest for the ACC overall. For the women, that means Andrea Cyr (Fount Cycling Guild) and Rylee McMullen (Virginia Blue Ridge Twenty28) will be back in action. On the men’s side, all eyes will be on Brody McDonald (Golden State Blazers), Lucas Bougoyne (Cadence Cyclery), and Danny Summerhill (L39ion of Los Angeles).
Nevertheless, the big change for Downer is who hasn’t been there. Enter Ben Oliver and his MitoQ New Zealand Cycling Project team.
“We've been over here for a few years now, and you still just feel like the little guy going up against the American teams, and I think that we just get a bit of motivation from that,” Ben Oliver told the ACC. “It is fun to prove that we can compete with them, and it's fun to beat them.
“We just go with the attitude of racing hard like we do in New Zealand for all the races we turn up to, and then we kind of feed off each other and our love to just attack the races.”
Last year, Oliver and MitoQ were both frequent factors on the ACC scene; however, Oliver wasn’t on the team. He raced for the Above and Beyond Cancer team after starting the year by signing with the NCL program. Nevertheless, their lineup is not the only team that looks a bit different this year.
“There are definitely a lot more teams to look out for, like last year,” he said. “You had the main teams cleaning up every race, like Reign Storm, so now everyone's a bit more spread out and there are a few other international teams that have come along, so I think it makes the race a bit more open and it's a little bit more unpredictable.”
Ultimately, that fractured competition has been good for Oliver and MitoQ as he won four out of the first five days of racing by the time we spoke. With that dominance, the pressure is on the other ACC contenders to get it right by Saturday.
“When you race with each other every night, you start to say, yeah, the team's out, so people are gonna start getting creative and there could be some surprise winners, but we'll just keep trying to keep on top of it.”
The women’s side will also see an injection of competition from Virginia Blue Ridge Twenty28 who are bringing their sprinter Malies Mejias to her first ACC stop of the year.
Kendall Ryan is not slated to be in Wisconsin for the race, so all the attention will be on Mejias to take the win if it goes to the line all together. Yet, as we have seen just last year, that is no guarantee. Speaking of, Kimberly Stoveld (Automatic Racing) will be back in action on Downer Ave this year with a full team to do whatever they can to disrupt a sprint finish.
Photo Credit: Mitchell Vincent (@mitchtigram)
