Into The Lion’s Den: From The Richest US Crit of The Year to PR Disaster

December 9, 2021

Olivia Ray posed with an enormous fake check on the Lion’s Den podium, $15,000 scrawled across its face. The Rally Cycling sprinter had just topped Legion’s Kendall Ryan and Amy Pieters of SD Worx to win Legion’s inaugural event, a high-speed, high-hype criterium in downtown Sacramento, California. The date in the check’s top right corner read 10/30/2021.

The race had a $100,000 prize purse, split evenly between invite-only men’s and women’s fields. The men’s teams raced in custom jerseys with their names and a number on the back and raced for a city, not a sponsor. The women’s field had stars like Pieters, who rides for one of the best teams in the world, lining up against Legion’s squad and other top US domestic teams like Rally. Cycling Tips