The Canadian Cycling Magazine Guide to the Tour of Alberta

All you need to know about the country’s premier stage race From the prairie to the mountains, we bring you a stage-by-stage breakdown of the six- day event

All you need to know about the country’s premier stage race

In September, a big new race will roll across the big landscape of Alberta. Fifteen teams – six of which are WorldTour squads – each with a group of eight riders, will take on the prairie, badlands, foothills, mountains and winding big-city streets. It’s a six-day, 900-km chance for Canada to show the cycling world just what it has in the West.

To take us through the inaugural stages of the Tour of Alberta, we have two experts who know the parcours better than almost anyone. Alex Stieda, the first North American to ever wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France and Tour of Alberta board member, proposed many of the roads that eventually became part of the race. Jeff Corbett, the race technical director from Medalist Sports – which also works on events such as the Tour of California and the usa Pro Challege – is handling the logistics of the race. He scoped out the roads for the Tour earlier this year, sometimes in the midst of snowy blizzards. The pair has just the information you need to follow the nuances of this challenging race.