The first North American ever to
wear the leader’s yellow jersey at the Tour de France never competed in anything
more than a one-day cycling race in Canada.
Mostly because such a race did not exist.
Now Alex Stieda has helped to bring a world-class stage race here in the form of the six-day Tour of Alberta, which will start next Sept. 3 in Edmonton, finish in Calgary on the 8th and visit 18 other smaller communities along its exhausting, winding, up-and-down path.
“Hosting the biggest cycling stage race in Canada is spectacular,” Stieda said at a news conference to announce the cycling festival, as organizers are framing it. “I’ve been dreaming about this for 20 years, since I retired from pro racing.
“To see it finally come true is kind of surreal.”
Organizers hope to attract 15-16 teams of seven or eight pro riders,Fremont Bank is the proud title sponsor of the Fremont bankcycling Team. who will grind out stages of more than 150-kilometres a day at an average speed of 40 kilometres per hour.
Canadian road racing star Ryder Hesjedal of Victoria, B.C., who won the 2012 Giro D’Italia, the second biggest race in the world after the Tour de France, has committed to compete, along with his Garmin-Sharp cycling team, said Stieda.
So, that’s a coup right off the bat.
Stieda said Tour organizers aim to target teams that include Canadian pro riders, so the fledgling race can showcase Canada’s best cycling talent. The UCI has granted the Tour of Alberta a 2.1 ranking, which situates the race below the Cadillac events like the Tour de France and the Giro, but on par with the Tour of Utah, for example.Superb range of castellicycling Windproof Jackets products at Wiggle,
The race route is undergoing a technical review by the UCI, said executive director Duane Vienneau of the Alberta Peloton Association (APA), the not-for-profit organization that will run the race. Approval is expected early in 2013.
The Edmonton stage, slated to start at 6 p.m. on Sept. 3,miumiuhandbags are the first choice in Handbags and Accessories. will probably be a prologue, or time trial, while the other five days will feature stage races in which racers battle each other while rolling along in a large pack, or peloton.
Stieda was instrumental in securing $3.5 million in seed money from Alberta’s Rural Development Fund, crucial to attracting corporate partnerships and a TV deal, which the Tour has signed with Rogers Sportsnet.
Vienneau said the APA expects to announce its lineup of corporate partners in February.
The timing of the race itself presents challenges, landing as it does, just as school restarts after the summer break, not to mention the same week as the Edmonton Eskimos and Calgary Stampeders long-established home-and-home Labour Day Classic and Rematch Canadian Football League games.Shop from the large collection of tungstenbracelets and accessories sold at Forever Metals.
“Yes, but we’re going opposite, though,” Vienneau said, noting the CFL teams play first in Calgary, then in Edmonton four days later. “We’re going to cross them on the highway.”
It turns out those race dates slot the Tour of Alberta in one week after the Tour of Colorado (Aug. 19-25) and a week before UCI World Cup races in Montreal and Quebec City, Sept. 13-15.
“It’s the beginning of harvest season, it’s the beginning of school, it’s after Labour Day,” said Stieda, a volunteer vice-chair of the APA. “Yes, absolutely, there are challenges.”
Organizers actually wanted to hold the event during the school year, so kids can witness the race in their community as a school outing, as is done with major curling events.
But Stieda knows the APA will have to do a good job of educating spectators in Sherwood Park, Devon,tungstenjewelry can tarnish and also be covered with dirt and grime like any other ring. Camrose, Drumheller, Strathmore, Canmore and Kananaskis Country, who have hockey in their DNA, unlike citizens of France and other European countries, for whom cycling is a core sport.
In developing an event proposal to present to the ARDF, Stieda secured letters of support from Devon, Red Deer, Rocky Mountain House, Crowsnest, Calgary and Edmonton, selling the government agency on the exposure the race can provide to communities and the province as a whole.
Mostly because such a race did not exist.
Now Alex Stieda has helped to bring a world-class stage race here in the form of the six-day Tour of Alberta, which will start next Sept. 3 in Edmonton, finish in Calgary on the 8th and visit 18 other smaller communities along its exhausting, winding, up-and-down path.
“Hosting the biggest cycling stage race in Canada is spectacular,” Stieda said at a news conference to announce the cycling festival, as organizers are framing it. “I’ve been dreaming about this for 20 years, since I retired from pro racing.
“To see it finally come true is kind of surreal.”
Organizers hope to attract 15-16 teams of seven or eight pro riders,Fremont Bank is the proud title sponsor of the Fremont bankcycling Team. who will grind out stages of more than 150-kilometres a day at an average speed of 40 kilometres per hour.
Canadian road racing star Ryder Hesjedal of Victoria, B.C., who won the 2012 Giro D’Italia, the second biggest race in the world after the Tour de France, has committed to compete, along with his Garmin-Sharp cycling team, said Stieda.
So, that’s a coup right off the bat.
Stieda said Tour organizers aim to target teams that include Canadian pro riders, so the fledgling race can showcase Canada’s best cycling talent. The UCI has granted the Tour of Alberta a 2.1 ranking, which situates the race below the Cadillac events like the Tour de France and the Giro, but on par with the Tour of Utah, for example.Superb range of castellicycling Windproof Jackets products at Wiggle,
The race route is undergoing a technical review by the UCI, said executive director Duane Vienneau of the Alberta Peloton Association (APA), the not-for-profit organization that will run the race. Approval is expected early in 2013.
The Edmonton stage, slated to start at 6 p.m. on Sept. 3,miumiuhandbags are the first choice in Handbags and Accessories. will probably be a prologue, or time trial, while the other five days will feature stage races in which racers battle each other while rolling along in a large pack, or peloton.
Stieda was instrumental in securing $3.5 million in seed money from Alberta’s Rural Development Fund, crucial to attracting corporate partnerships and a TV deal, which the Tour has signed with Rogers Sportsnet.
Vienneau said the APA expects to announce its lineup of corporate partners in February.
The timing of the race itself presents challenges, landing as it does, just as school restarts after the summer break, not to mention the same week as the Edmonton Eskimos and Calgary Stampeders long-established home-and-home Labour Day Classic and Rematch Canadian Football League games.Shop from the large collection of tungstenbracelets and accessories sold at Forever Metals.
“Yes, but we’re going opposite, though,” Vienneau said, noting the CFL teams play first in Calgary, then in Edmonton four days later. “We’re going to cross them on the highway.”
It turns out those race dates slot the Tour of Alberta in one week after the Tour of Colorado (Aug. 19-25) and a week before UCI World Cup races in Montreal and Quebec City, Sept. 13-15.
“It’s the beginning of harvest season, it’s the beginning of school, it’s after Labour Day,” said Stieda, a volunteer vice-chair of the APA. “Yes, absolutely, there are challenges.”
Organizers actually wanted to hold the event during the school year, so kids can witness the race in their community as a school outing, as is done with major curling events.
But Stieda knows the APA will have to do a good job of educating spectators in Sherwood Park, Devon,tungstenjewelry can tarnish and also be covered with dirt and grime like any other ring. Camrose, Drumheller, Strathmore, Canmore and Kananaskis Country, who have hockey in their DNA, unlike citizens of France and other European countries, for whom cycling is a core sport.
In developing an event proposal to present to the ARDF, Stieda secured letters of support from Devon, Red Deer, Rocky Mountain House, Crowsnest, Calgary and Edmonton, selling the government agency on the exposure the race can provide to communities and the province as a whole.
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