A RACE 10 YEARS IN THE MAKING

Former Canadian pro cyclist Alex Stieda can’t recall the precise moment he had the brainstorm to form the six- day stage race or where he was when it happened, but for the first Canadian to wear the yellow jersey at the Tour de France (in 1986), the idea was inevitable. “It’s in my dna,” Stieda says of cycling. “It’s who I am. So I couldn’t help do something like this because it’s something I’ve always loved and grown up with, and continued to be involved with. It’s exciting to share that passion.”

The Tour of Alberta will be Stieda’s passion writ large. The organizers estimate 300,000 people will turn out for the race, which will cost approximately $7 million to host. Based on events of similar size, such as the Tour of Georgia, it’s possible the Tour of Alberta may inject as much as $30 million into the provincial economy.

It’s those kinds of numbers that helped give rise to the Tour of Alberta in the first place. Stieda started talking about the race a decade ago, but things really started to roll in 2006. After bending the ears of politicians at Edmonton city hall and members of the legislative assembly and, well, just about anyone who’d listen, the Alberta Government asked for a proposal to determine the feasibility of a professional cycling event in the province.

To help him with the proposal, Stieda drew on the expertise of an Alberta consulting firm as well as that of Georgia-based Medalist Sports. Medalist Sports is an event management company that helps run the Amgen Tour of California and the usa Pro Challenge (and now the Tour of Alberta), among others. Stieda had previously worked with Medalist on both the Tours of California and Georgia.

Stieda says he and his team had to hammer home the idea in the feasibility study that the Tour of Alberta would be a huge success. “The whole concept of ‘go big or go home’ really applies here. You can’t do it halfway. It has to be all in or nothing.”

That might sound like a simple idea, but Duane Vienneau, executive director of the Alberta Peloton Association (the owner and producer of the Tour), notes he ran the Grey Cup in Edmonton in 2010 and everyone knew what that was; that doesn’t apply with the Tour. Or as Stieda puts it: “Alberta typically understands the value of hockey, of curling, of a rodeo, but how do you put value on an event that takes the stadium concept and puts it out into rural Alberta?”

As it turned out, one government agency did understand that value. The Rural Alberta Development Fund thought Stieda had a great idea and handed over $3.5 million, about half the cost of the race. More important though, says Vienneau, that seed money helped the Tour gain its uci 2.1 sanctioning, the highest-level stage race in Canada.

Stieda says if the race is a success, he might consider expanding it to seven or eight days, but at the moment has no plans on franchising the idea. Now, the former pro who now earns his living doing sales for an IT company in Edmonton says it’s enough just to see his decade-long idea come to fruition. “It’s exciting, gratifying. I just can’t wait for the race to start. You have to be here.”