USA Pro Challenge reveals ’15 host cities

In the next two weeks, fans of the USA Pro Challenge will get a chance to choose the penultimate stage of the fifth cycling race across Colorado.

And northern Colorado is lobbying hard to win next year’s Stage 6 of the Pro Challenge after passing on the 2014 race as the region struggled with damage from catastrophic flooding. The 2013 race wound through Loveland, Windsor and Fort Collins, and those towns again are committing to support a stage in 2015.

“Hosting Stage 6 of the 2013 race was an incredible community experience, and we look forward to the possibility of once again putting northern Colorado on the global stage,” said Eric Thompson, amember of the northern Colorado organizing committee. “We want to rally our community to bring back these amazing athletes.”

The 2015 version of the Pro Challenge mixes new hosts with old, but remains in four tried-and-true locales: Steamboat Springs, Summit County, Aspen and metro Denver.

Vail, which has hosted a time trial up pro cycling’s storied Vail Pass in the previous four races, will not play a role in the 2015 ProChallenge as it ramps up for hosting the 2015World Alpine Ski Championships.

The race begins with a circuit in Steamboat Springs and once again ends in downtown Denver. Perennial hosts Aspen and Breckenridge return with newhosts, Arapahoe Basin and CopperMountain.

The 2014 race drew an estimated 1.1 million fans, according to organizers, with about a quarter of them hailing from out of state. A survey of spectators showed the race generated $130 million in economic impact in Colorado, a 12 percent increase over the previous year. More than 70 percent of the spectators surveyed by research firm Sponsorship Science said they would return to watch the 2015 race.

The 2015model condenses hosts into five regions. The 2012 race stopped and started in a dozen communities. Concentrating im- pacts in fewer host cities increases the economic impact and allows hosts to build week-long parties for overnight visitors. The party this year will be in SummitCounty, which gets two starts and two finishes.

Specific route details won’t be announced until spring, but race chief Shawn Hunter said the time trial in Breckenridge will be two laps with “some intense climbing.”

Hunter said he’s excited for the celebrations at Arapahoe Basin andCopperMountain.

“It’s just going to be a great race for spectators,” Hunter said. “I think people are pumped.”