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Yet another national championship event is coming to the Triad.

High Point has been selected to host the 2013 and 2014 USA Cycling Professional Criterium National Championships, beating out bids from Austin, Texas, and Sacramento, Calif. This is the first time in the 30-year history of the national championships that the event will take place in the Southeast, according to USA Cycling, which expects as many as 20,000 spectators.

The races are tentatively set for the final weekend in July, and admission is free to the public.

“It’s just a great event to bring to the Triad,” said Don Redding, the president and CEO of Redding Communications, which is handling marketing and public relations for the races. “We have the Wyndham (PGA Tour event), we recently had the U.S. Figure Skating Championships here and the ACC tournament comes to Greensboro. This is something that’s just great for High Point to be able to contribute to the Triad as far as major sporting events go.”

Criteriums are bicycle races of about 50 miles in length that are held on closed city street circuits of 1 to 1-1/2 miles. Known simply as a “crit” to race fans, this type of race typically creates a festival-like atmosphere and is completed in about 90 minutes to two hours, which sets it apart from longer, tour-style events.

“Some people call criterium racing NASCAR on two wheels,” said Micah Rice, the managing director of national events for USA Cycling. “There’s a very fast, narrow course, lots of corners, and you get to see them come around every minute, minute and a half. … We know in 2011 we had about 65 of the top men, professional racers in the U.S. There are only about 125 even eligible. This is absolutely the cream of the crop when it comes to professional racing in the United States.”

The national championships will cap multi-day events that also feature the High Point City Criterium championships, the North Carolina championships and amateur races for youth, adults and seniors. Organizers anticipate having musical acts, food vendors and other family-oriented activities.

Redding pointed to three factors that likely helped High Point secure the national championships:

* The transportation terminal in front of the International Home Furnishings Center, the possible start-finish area for the races.

* The way the city is laid out and able to handle large groups of people, which has been demonstrated by the furniture market.

* And the success of the High Point City Crits, which began in 2010, and North Carolina championships, which High Point hosted in 2011.

“Probably the No. 1 piece of the puzzle there was the community support for the event,” Rice said. “It’s a nice urban course, a nice downtown area, and we look to bring some of our events to places that have a really strong cycling community within a couple of hours of it, and all those things worked in High Point’s favor.”

The 2012 championships are July 28 in Grand Rapids, Mich.