With rainbow stripes as the ultimate prize, the UCI Gran Fondo World Series removes any traces of doubt that gran fondos are races up at the front.

In 2017, after an absence of two years the Series has an American stop at the Cheaha Challenge Gran Fondo in Alabama on May 21.

Finish in the top 25% of your age group at the Cheaha Challenge or at any of the 18 other Series events (or do three of them) and you will qualify for the 2017 World Championships in Albi, France, and a shot at those stripes.

"The toughest ride in the South," the Cheaha Challenge, part of the Alabama Backroads Century Series, dates back to 1992 and challenges riders over Mount Cheaha, the highest point in Alabama.

The seven routes, extending up to the 200km/124 mile Ultra with 11,733 feet of climbing, start and finish on the campus of Jacksonville State University.

The Century, which is the UCI qualifier, has 9,714 feet of climbing in the Talladega Mountains.

The start of Alabama's Cheaha Challenge. Credit: Cheaha Challenge
Although the US has not been on the Series' itinerary recently it featured strongly in the past and American riders have brought home their fair share of medals in previous years.

In 2011, the first year of the predecessor UCI World Cycling Tour, two of the seven qualifier events were in the USA — Gran Fondo New York and The Echelon Gran Fondo in Fort Collins, CO.

In 2012 the Berkshire Cycling Classic in Massachusetts was part of the Tour, followed in 2013 the Ridge Hill Putnam Cycling Classic in Cold Spring, NY, and in 2014 by the Tour of Winston-Salem.

The Tour de Campeche in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula also joins the Series for the first time in 2017 and Canada's Grey County Road Race rounds out the trio of North American stops next year.

Chehea and Campeche are two of eight newly included events as the Series expands to 19 qualifying rides for Albi in August 2017.

The Series is run by Golazo, the Belgian sports marketing agency that organizes many of the most iconic amateur rides including The Marmotte and Paris-Roubaix.

The 2017 season has already kicked off. The Poznan Bike Challenge in Poland and Australia's Amy's Gran Fondo both saw record fields with 6,500 and 5,00 riders respectively.

Poznan will host the 2019 UCI Gran Fondo World Championships. The 2018 championships have not yet been awarded.

Only those who meet the qualification criteria receive invitations to race in the World Championships.

2017 UCI Gran Fondo World Series Events

10-11 September    Poznan Bike Challenge                                 Poznan, Poland

11 September         Amy's Gran Fondo                                         Lorne, Australia

16 December         Spinneys Dubai 92                                         Dubai, UAE

3-5 March               Tour de Bintan                                                Bintan, Indonesia

4 March                  Forrest Grape Ride                                         Marlborough, NZ

24-26 March           Cyprus Gran Fondo                                        Pafos, Cyprus

1-2 April                  Blayney to Bathurst Cyclo Sportif Challenge  Bathurst, Australia

21-23 April              Rhodes Gran Fondo Tour                               Rhodes, Greece

29-30 April              Tour of Ayrshire                                               Kilmarnock, Scotland

20 May                    Schleck Gran Fondo                                       Luxembourg

21 May                    Cheaha Challenge                                          Jacksonville, Alabama

26-28 May               L'Albigeoise                                                     Albi, France

3-4 June                  Tour of Cambridgeshire                                   Peterborough, England

3-4 June                  Tour de Campeche                                          Campeche, Mexico

9-11 June                Maraton Franja                                                Ljubljana, Slovenia

15-17 June              Grey County Road Race                                 Blue Mountain Village, Canada

7-9 July                   La Leggendaria Charly Gaul                            Trento, Italy

8-9 July                   Niseko Classic                                                 Niseko, Japan

12-13 August          Gran Fondo Denmark                                      Helsingor, Denmark

24-27 August           World Championships                                     Albi, France

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