"Faster, Higher, Stronger."

With the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing on the horizon, BC Superweek is taking the Olympic motto to heart with 10 days of cycling that continues to attract past, present and future Olympians from Canada and beyond.

With even more prize money added to what was already Canada’s richest cycling event, BC Superweek’s growing reputation as one of the best events in North America matches its impressive history of riders, an impressive list that includes past Canadian Olympians like Brian Walton, Alison Sydor, Eric Wohlberg, and Gord Fraser; top pro cyclists like Kirk O’Bee, and Alex Stieda (the first North American to win a stage at the Tour de France), and even seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong.

BC Superweek starts with the $25,000 Tour de Delta July 11-13, continues with the Gastown Criterium on Wednesday, July 16 and the Giro di Burnaby Criterium a day later, then concludes July 18-20 with the 29th annual Tour de White Rock.

“This is the best run race that I know of in North America,” says Walton, a North Delta native, a three-time Olympian and an Olympic silver medalist in 1996. “Initially it was one of the best, but it is second to none now.”

Canada’s biggest 10 days of cycling, with eight races and $70,000 in prize money, attracts riders from North America’s biggest teams. BC Superweek recently received confirmations from Bissel Pro Cycling and Health Net Pro Cycling’s O’Bee, a three-time U.S. national champion.

The big names don’t surprise Langley's Svein Tuft, who along with his teammates on the Vancouver area-based Symmetrics Pro Cycling team, hears plenty of feedback about BC Superweek during their annual travels to compete in the biggest races all over the world.

“BC Superweek is always the talk of the Pro circuit,” says Tuft, who was named to the Canadian Olympic team last week. “All the top pros have either been or want to come. Their comments are always the same - super hard racing on the best courses in the best communities in North America."

BC Superweek starts with the new Brenco Prologue event at the Tour de Delta, where special time-trial bikes will race down a large steel ramp and onto a quick 3km course, with top speeds expected to reach 60 km/hour.

“Everything is different in a prologue and that’s great for cycling fans and spectators,” says Mark Ernsting, a five-time Canadian National Champion on track who is preparing for his first year as the Tour de Delta’s Race Director in place of John McMurchy, who left to work with VANOC. “They will be riding designated time trial bikes, which have major differences in design and geometry, and are purely for top-end speed.”

The Tour de Delta, which added $5,000 to Canada’s biggest purse, continues with the Lehigh Cement Criterium (a criterium, or “crit” is a multi-lap race set in the historic fishing village of Ladner) Saturday, and the gruelling White SpotRoad Race on Sunday, which will start at the Sungod Arena in North Delta and conclude 140 kms later at Winskill Park in Tsawwassen.