The First Annual Folsom Prison Race Behind Bars is scheduled to take place next month – May 15 – in Folsom CA.  The event is run by the same folks that put on the self-proclaimed ‘Greatest race series in the west’ – the Prairie City Race Series.  That lineage would suggest that this will be a successful event – both on this first running, and in the future.  That is, assuming that racing on prison grounds property doesn’t scare folks away!

That’s right – the race takes you to normally forbidden grounds.  From their website:

The latest trail additions include even more new flume trail than previous races held out here. Racing this event is a rare opportunity to ride on the 5+ mile Folsom Prison grounds course.NOTE: This area is off limits at any other time, please do not try to pre-ride this course.

Registration is open now until May 13, and you can register online.  I’m also planning on being onsite to cover the race for both VeloReviews and JustAnotherCyclist.com

As the single-race event that precedes the Santos Tour down Under, the Cancer Council Classic basically marks the official start of the Pro Tour road racing year.  This is the first chance for us to see teams out with their new kits and equipment in an actual competitive scenario.

The Cancer Council Classic is a criterium – this year measuring 51 Km in length.  Final glory went to Matthew Goss of HTC Columbia, followed immediately by team mate and lead out man extraordinaire Mark Renshaw.  Robbie McEwen of Team RadioShack rounded out the top 3.

Intermediate sprint points were claimed by Luke Durbridge of UniSA-Australia in lap 5, twice by Gorka Izagirre of Euskaltel-Euskadi in laps 10 & 20, and new team Leopard-Trek‘s Martin Mortensen claimed lap 15.

The action was punctuated by a couple of crashes.  One caught Stuart O’Grady (Leopard-Trek) and prevented him from making the time cut-off.  Another, in the final turn of the final lap before the finish, caused enough chaos to hold up many in the peloton.  This is presumably what resulted in the situation where Mark Renshaw was leading out Goss for team HTC Columbia as opposed to the favorite to win Mark Cavendish.