TOUR OF ALBERTA GEARS UP FOR 2013
SIX-DAY RACE THROUGH PROVINCE EXPECTED TO ATTRACT TOP RIDERS
When the Grey Cup shows up in your town, you know exactly what you’re in for. Ditto the Brier. And when the world junior championship fills your rink, you’re aware of, well, everything. The history, the stakes, the context.
Less clear cut is the latest addition to Calgary’s sporting scene — Tour of Alberta: Alberta’s Pro Cycling Festival.
But, ready or not, here it comes.
The six-day stage race is set for 2013, starting Sept. 3 in Edmonton and finishing here Sept. 8.
Here’s the first clue about the calibre of competition. Since the sport’s governing body — Union Cycliste Internationale — handed the Tour of Alberta a lofty 2.1 sanctioning rating, organizers can make pitches to anyone. Meaning even those participating in the Tour de France will asked to come.
“If we had less than (2.1) we could not invite those riders because they’re a very high category of rider,” said Brian Jolly, chairman of the Alberta Peloton Association, the notfor-profit organizing body of the Tour of Alberta.
“We, for sure, will have some of those riders. People can relate to (Canadian) Ryder Hesjedal, who won the (Giro d’Italia) this last year. He will obviously be a target for us to bring here.
“We hope to get 16 teams that are full of (that calibre) of riders.”
The timing of the Tour of Alberta makes it attractive to professional cyclists, according to Jolly.
Preceding it is the USA Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado, Aug. 19-25. And right after it are World Cup events in Montreal.
“So there’s a good fit,” he said, “to have people over here already who could blend right in to our event.”
There’s a good fit to have people over here already who could blend right in to our event.
BRIAN JOLLY
But it’s not only the calendar that turns Alberta into a prime landing spot for elite pedallers. Economics factor in, too.
“You take Spain, you take Italy, Portugal — they all have big races on,” said Jolly. “But a lot of those races are struggling to find the finances to do things. As someone said to me the other day — I won’t mention the country they used — it’s a matter of saying, ‘Would you prefer to ride in this particular place? Or would you prefer to go to Alberta and Canada?’ I think we know what the answer is.
“This is a fantastic place to have a bike race.”
Monday morning, in joint — and live — press conferences in Calgary and Edmonton, facts and figures flew from the podiums. In a nutshell: 0 — cost, in dollars, for spectators to watch the event
3.5 — seed money, in millions of dollars, provided by the Rural Alberta Development Fund
6 — number of racing stages, one per day
16 — international professional teams, of eight members each, competing
20 — Alberta communities directly involved
30 — television viewers, in millions, that will watch the Tour of Alberta
30-35 — annual economic impact, in millions of dollars, for the province
850 — distance, in kilometres, of the six-day race
300,000 — estimated total of on-site spectators Stages aren’t finalized yet, but the province offers a tantalizing variety of terrain. Organizers plan to make use of nearly all of it.
“First of all, we have the flat lands,” said Jolly. “Then we have the Badlands. Then we are going to the mountains. Anybody who knows what it’s like in Canmore can relate to that. You don’t go up the same climbs you have in the Tour de France, but there are still high elevations that they have to climb through. There will be lots of painful days out there for people, I’m sure.
Verlyn Olson, meanwhile, can envision his own racing scene. He sees a pack of cyclists whizzing down a secondary highway, with combines working in the background.
“The visuals are going to be spectacular,” said Olson, minister of agriculture and rural development.
“You know, this is a major international event. It’s a major competition. Coupled with it, like many other major sporting events, is the festival piece of it. ”