Excitement is building ahead of next week?s CD &P Grand Prix, when more than 120 pro riders will descend on Bermuda?s roads.

The event, now in its 13th year, will welcome last year?s champions Ivan Stevic and Karen Brems ? who won by just four seconds in a nail-biting finale ? returning to defend their crowns.

The grand prix will once again be raced over four days, beginning next Thursday with the CD&P Criterium in Hamilton, expected to once again draw the crowds to Front Street to watch the riders whiz around the tight course in search of cash primes as well as valuable time bonuses.

The riders then move on to the gruelling XL Lighthouse Challenge, introduced last year, where riders scale a cruel 1.05km course that ends at the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse before the Cheerios Dockyard Criterium on the Saturday.

This year the event will finish with the Catlin Southside Criterium, a longer 7.7km course, designed to keep the grand prix exciting up to the final day with riders able to make up bigger time differences on the road race.

Organisers have sought this year to widen the appeal of the event, bringing in a team from Portugal as well as one from the Caribbean.

?In developing our elite field for 2006 we looked at various ways of bringing new people out to see the racing,? said organiser Peter Dunne.

?Of course we know we will always get the several hundred people in Bermuda that are into cycling, but it is those outside that we are looking to connect with.

?So we are bringing a team in from Portugal and one from the Caribbean. The Vasco da Gama club is getting involved in bringing out their members and the West Indian Association is circulating information about the race.

?And since we have 2004 Canadian National Road Race Champion Gord Fraser coming ? and retiring after our event after winning several hundred races in his career ? the Association of Canadians in Bermuda are getting their members out.

?And for the Brits here, 2005 British National Road Race Champion Russ Downing will be in Bermuda with his team.

?And don?t forget that we will have Geri Mewett in the elite race and we need all Bermudians to come out and wave the flag for him. I think this will bring new spectators out and, hopefully, encourage more juniors to see cycle racing as an exciting sport for both spectating and participating.?

Courtesy of some unfortunate scheduling on an Island where international events are not weekly occurrences, the Grand Prix clashes with the World Under 19 Volleyball Championships ? which run the exact same days as the cycling ? but Dunne is not worried.

?Volleyball? We don?t use those in cycling,? he joked.

?There are many things happening in Bermuda every day. I don?t think that it is the best scheduling but maybe our times don?t conflict too much. Thursday we are in town in the evening. Friday is evening. Saturday is a conflict and maybe Sunday, but we?ll see.

?We have a great kids event in Dockyard on Saturday and all of our teams will be out there hanging out with the spectators and racing an exciting course.

?The Bermuda Grand Prix includes local riders as well so this is more reason to come out to our venues. We have a great atmosphere and lots of fast-paced excitement. Plus cycling has much more crashing than volleyball!?

And despite the negative Press his sport has received in recent weeks due to overseas doping scandals, Dunne is still as enthusiastic as ever about cycling.

?Unfortunately the majority of the international sporting press in the last month has been solely about Floyd Landis and his failed testing at the Tour de France,? Dunne added.

?And given that cycling does not attract daily coverage in North America, for many people this is the only story in cycling.

?Virtually everyone in the sport would like to see the cheaters removed so that the thrill of watching this sport can shed the burden of being perceived as a sport where everyone is trying to cheat their way to the podium.

?Baseball and track are still wonderful sports, despite the Press about Barry Bonds and Justin Gatlin.

?For the spectators in Bermuda, having an event like the Bermuda Grand Prix allows everyone the chance to meet the competitors, socialise with them, and see that in addition to having an incredible physical talent, they are also great people who love the sport.?

Bermuda?s top cyclist Tyler Butterfield, the winner two years ago, is racing in Europe next week but his new pro team SlipStream ? who he is to join up with in January ? will have five riders here.