Ryan Brennecke / The BulletinRacers climb their way up Century Drive near Wanoga Sno-park while competing in Stage 3 of the 2011 Cascade Cycling Classic.

For the past 35 years, many of the country’s best professional road cyclists have come through Central Oregon each July for the Cascade Cycling Classic.

That longstanding tradition was threatened after Bend Memorial Clinic dropped its title sponsorship, concerning many of those racers and local cycling fans.

But Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon has stepped up as the CCC’s title sponsor for the next three years. The sponsorship was announced Wednesday during a gathering at the Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation, the Bend nonprofit which puts on the race each year.

Bend’s Chris Horner, the 2013 Spanish Vuelta winner who raced in several Cascade Classics before moving on to race in Europe, said Wednesday that the announcement comes as a relief to many in the cycling community.

“It’s a big national calendar race,” said Horner, who was on hand at the announcement as a show of support for the event. “It’s big for all the riders, professional and smaller regional high-amateur teams. A lot of the racers were disappointed when they heard it might disappear. For Regence to come in and keep the bike race going … It’s big to have a sponsor come in and save the race so last minute.”

The race will be called the Cascade Cycling Classic presented by Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon and will be staged July 22-26, without a prologue.

Regence, a health insurer with offices across Oregon and a large presence in Central Oregon, was a title sponsor of the Cascade in the late 1990s.

“When I think about this race, I think about the community,” said Scott Burton, director of community and business relations for Regence. “I mean, this is the community’s race. We will be a big part of it, but it’s not about us, it’s about the community. It’s something that we couldn’t let go.”

Burton said that Regence insures about 10 percent of Bend’s population. As CCC title sponsor, the company will contribute $50,000 to the race in each of the next three years. The Cascade costs more than $200,000 to stage each year, according to Molly Cogswell-Kelly, events director for MBSEF. The remainder of the costs are covered by smaller local sponsors and racer entry fees.

“This is definitely not something that MBSEF makes much money on, but it’s a community race, and we just think it’s really important for the community to have this race,” Cogswell-Kelly said.

MBSEF executive director John Schiemer expressed relief that they had secured a title sponsor for the race.

“Without a title sponsor and the community involved, we couldn’t put on the race,” Schiemer said. “We received numerous calls from people that expressed concern that the race might be canceled, even from non-bike race followers.”

Schiemer added that there will be no major changes to the 2015 race, other then the removal of the Tuesday night prologue and the race being one week later on the calendar.

“We do tweaks every year to keep it fresh,” Schiemer said. “But the race will stay pretty much the same.”

The longest-running road cycling stage race in the United States, the CCC has been held each summer since 1980, hosting top pro and amateur riders.

The CCC is one of the most popular cycling races in the country among races not sanctioned by the International Cycling Union, cycling’s world governing body. This past July, 605 cyclists competed in the pro and amateur categories.

The five-stage Cascade Classic is highlighted by the twilight criterium in downtown Bend, which draws thousands of spectators.

— Reporter: 541-383-0318,

mmorical@bendbulletin.com