After a three-year run with Chattanooga as the host city, USA Cycling announced Thursday that the Volkswagen USA Cycling Professional Road and Time Trial Championships will move to Winston-Salem, N.C., for 2016 and 2017.
The championships moved to Chattanooga in 2013, with the male and female pros competing together and for equal prize money for the first time at the Memorial Day weekend event.
USA Cycling will expand with the move to North Carolina. The event will become a nine-day celebration of cycling, with the pro road time trial championships joining the USA Cycling Masters Road National Championships and ending on Memorial Day with the Winston-Salem Cycling Classic, a UCI road race.
"It's been a very cool event and we will miss having it in Chattanooga," said Outdoor Chattanooga executive director Philip Grimes. "We put a lot of time and effort into hosting USA Cycling, and we feel like it was a good fit for our city.
"We were at the end of our three-year contract, and multiple cities put in bids to host the race. We also put in a bid, but it's hard to compete against nine days of cycling like they will have in Winston-Salem."
The race attracted thousands of fans to the course in Chattanooga, with an estimated 30,000 spectators at the 2014 event and an economic impact of $5.9 million for the city that year, according to a report commissioned by USA Cycling.
Last year, the race was marred by a serious accident on Lookout Mountain that injured highly touted pro cyclist Taylor Phinney, derailing his promising career as he recovers from a serious leg injury.
In its final year in the Scenic City, Andrew Talansky and Kristin Armstrong were the men's and women's time trial champions. Matthew Busche and Megan Guarnier won the men's and women's road race titles in downtown Chattanooga on Memorial Day.
As USA Cycling moves on, local organizers wish the event well and are looking forward to new opportunities and new events they might bring to Chattanooga.
"I'm excited for the event because I think it will continue to grow wherever it goes," Grimes said. "But I'm sure we here in Chattanooga will find something else to fill that weekend for our residents."
Contact Jim Tanner at JFTanner@bellsouth.net. Follow him at twitter.com/JFTanner.