Tour De Francis Park 2025

     Tour de Francis Park is day two of the Gateway Cup 2025. The course is described as -"Fast, wide, and smooth, the Tour de Francis Park is a series favorite. This long, 1.2-mile course, is full throttle - featuring one uphill drag to the finish." Gateway Cup Website Francis Park is a historic neighborhood in South St. Louis City, Missouri, USA. This unique neighborhood has four churches on the 1.2-mile course which surrounds Francis Park.

     The race day begins with the Ride to Unite Charity Ride just after course setup. The races kickoff at 10:15am with the 25-minute Juniors B (9-12, 13-14). The Gateway Cup is brought to you by Big Shark Bicycle Company and Bommarito Audi County. While walking the course I had the chance to meet Joe Torrisi the man credited with organizing the culmination of races that is todays Gateway Cup. I was invited by Mr. Torrisi to a party along the Giro Della Montagna race course. The Gateway Cup is fast, fun, and friendly. The party was the next day at the Giro Della Montagna. Giro Della Montagna is the American Criterium Cup races for the Professional Racers. American Criterium Cup began with ten race series held and is now a six race series at various race weekends across the United States.

      "A Criterium, or Crit, is a bike race consisting of several laps that are ranging from about 400m to 10,000m." (Google Search Criterium) The Tour de Francis Park is the second race of the four races that will complete the Omnium the Gateway Cup 2025.

 

By Darren Dwayne Frazier

Photographs by Highland Productions LLC

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