Pennsylvania will be without a professional road team competing in 2009, a Cyclingnews.com post indicates.
The Wayne, Pa.-based Rite Aid Pro Cycling Team presented by Shebell & Shebell did not seek a professional UCI license for 2009, according to an official of USA Cycling, the sport’s national governing body, who was quoted in the article.
Rite Aid racers have been a staple at Lancaster County races, particularly those in the early spring and at the end of the season. Team member Bobby Lea raced here at the Grandview criterium shortly before he went to compete in Beijing as a member of the U.S. Olympic track squad.
The nation’s largest drug store chain has sponsored the team for three years. It started as Snow Valley.
There was no indication in the Cyclingnews account whether Rite Aid was taking the path of fellow continental team Jittery Joe’s. That Georgia-based team plans to step down and race as an elite amateur squad next year with the hope of rebuilding its sponsorships in the future and again becoming a pro domestic team.
