L39ion of Los Angeles will send riders to this Saturday's Sunny King Criterium, the opening round of the American Criterium Cup, but officially does not consider the riders' appearance in Anniston, Alabama, a "team race."

The women's team includes Alexis Ryan, winner of the Birmingham Hammerfest in mid-March, Skylar Schneider in second, Kendall Ryan in third, and Samantha Schneider, who finished one step off the podium, and Julin Aguilar in 15th, all of whom swept the podium The quintet will be in action.

Ty Magner and Ian Garrison, who helped Justin Williams win in Birmingham, will compete in the men's crit on Saturday in downtown Anniston. Both Magner and Garrison are based in Georgia and will make the short drive to Alabama to compete; Magner, who won the 2015 Anniston race, told Cycling News he just plans to "race smarter than everyone else."

L39ON released its official "Tour Calendar" on social media earlier this week, noting the 13 major races it will fully represent. The calendar opens with the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, California, not the opening round of the American Criterium Cup. Cory Williams won Friday's circuit race with a sprint victory. [L39ION of Los Angeles is pleased to announce the Tour calendar for the 2022 season. We will be participating in several high-impact and/or culturally significant races that coincide with the American Criterium Cup, but not the series," said Justin Williams, co-founder of the Continental Team, in an official team statement. [Our mission has been and continues to be to elevate the sport through fair opportunities for teams and an exciting fan experience. However, the lack of cooperation and attention to the best interests of the teams in the series has created a system that has failed to live up to the expectations we had hoped for"

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"Having said that, the team could not be more excited about the upcoming season.

The American Criterium Cup Series, a series of 10 races, kicks off Saturday at the "King of Crit" Sunny King Criterium, now in its 20th year.The new series, launched by USA Cycling with national teams and race directors, is supported and prize money totaling $100,000, to be split equally between men and women at the end of the season. The final race will be the Bomarito Audi Gateway Cup in Missouri in September.

Sam Schneider won this event in 2016 and returned to racing with her sister on the L39ION team. Sam took over a year off to start a family after the birth of a baby boy with her husband Andy.

"The team competing in Sunny King is an incredibly talented group of women. It's very exciting because there are so many options as to what kind of race we can do. We have a great group of athletes and a lot of racing experience, which makes for a dynamic race," she told Cycling News.

"It's been a few years since I've raced here [and] a lot has changed since then.

"Sunny King always has a very competitive and talented field for the girls. This year's team is very strong and we haven't seen them race yet, so we don't know how good everyone is. I think a lot of the teams are very motivated and eager to show off."

Among the larger teams competing against L39ON in the women's crit are the DNA Pro Cycling team with speedster Maggie Coles-Leister, Colavita-Factor Pro Cycling with Christina Gokey-Smith, who placed fourth last year, and CWA Racing p/b Goldman Sachs ETFs, with six riders in the lineup.

Sunny King's men's field had 95 entries the day before the start, with Best Buddies Racing, Butcher Box Cycling p/b LOOK, Project Echelon Racing, Texas Roadhouse Cycling Team PB Athletic Brewing Company, and other full teams participated. 2]

Both elite races and the entire amateur event on Saturday will be broadcast live on Sunny King Criterium Live Stream, courtesy of Sparklight, from 12:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. CST, with five cameras set up around the 1.1km course and Brad Thorner providing live Brad Thorner will stream live from 12:00 to 9:30 p.m. Japan time.