In September, Jasper will be overrun with professional cyclists competing in the third annual Tour of Alberta bike race. As well as cyclists, there will be thousands of fans on the ground and millions of spectators watching from home—about 45 million, to be more precise.
To prepare you for the event, the Fitzhugh will be writing weekly stories about the tour, whether it’s things you need to know, rider profiles or the inside scoop on what it’s like to ride in a peloton.
What’s a peloton, you ask? Read on and maybe you’ll find out.
1. The Tour of Alberta attracts the best of the best: 120 of the world’s leading cyclists will be in Alberta to compete, including world tour teams, like Australia’s Orica-GreenEdge, which won last year’s race.
2. It covers a lot of ground: The six-day event will see cyclists pedal more than 865 kms and race through eight host cities—including Jasper. It begins in the City of Grande Prairie on Sept. 2 and ends in Edmonton on Sept. 7.
3. Those fellas are fast: Riders will maintain an average speed of 40 km/h, while downhill speeds can reach up to 100 km/h.
4. Jasper is the star of the show: By far, Jasper has the best gig in the race. Not only will the racers finish Stage 3 at the Miette Hot Springs, Sept. 4, they will begin Stage 4 in the townsite the following day and then pedal around the Athabasca Falls loop three times before heading up to Marmot Basin for a second finish line in the park. That’s two finish lines and one start out of a possible six possible finishes and six starts.
5. There’s not one, but two mountaintop finishes: By adding Jasper to the tour, this year’s route includes it’s first ever—as well as second ever—mountaintop finish. Since the first tour in 2013, riders have been asking to head for the hills and this year the route delivers, with a 17-km climb to Miette Hot Springs, as well as a 12-km climb to Marmot Basin. (The Marmot climb will take riders to 1,600 meters elevation, the highest in the event’s history.)
6. TTT, another first: New to this year’s tour is the Team Time Trial in Grande Prairie. The TTT counts as the first stage of the race and will see each team tackle a technical course, racing against the clock on a 19.6-km route through the city. The first place rider from the winning team will wear the Province of Alberta Leader jersey at the finish line.
7. Different jerseys mean different things: Jerseys are awarded to cyclists for a number of different achievements throughout the race. As with the Tour de France, the overall leader wears the yellow jersey. But, there are other jerseys as well. For instance, the green jersey is awarded to the best sprinter, the white jersey to the fastest rider under 24 years of age, the pink polka dot jersey to the fastest hill climber, the blue jersey to the most aggressive rider and the red jersey to the best Canadian athlete. (Check back next week for more on those jerseys and how they’re won.)
8.One stage at a time: To win, a rider doesn’t have to win every stage of the tour, he just has to have the most consistent performance of the race. This is determined by the general classification: the total accumulated time over the entire race. The racer with the lowest time at the end of all six stages takes home the prize.
9. Bike racing is a team sport: Although there’s only one winner, it takes a whole team to get that rider on the podium. Each team has a leader vying for the win, while his teammates break the wind and protect him from crashes.
10. So, what’s a peloton, anyway? The peloton is the main group of riders in a road race. The racers gather together into an integrated unit, allowing them to save energy by drafting off one another. The rider in the front takes the brunt of the wind, cutting wind drag for those behind him by up to 40 per cent. This is often where a leader’s teammates come into play, as they head to the front of the pack to create a draft for their star rider.
Check back next week to learn more about the Tour of Alberta. If you’d like to volunteer during the event, Jasper’s local organizing committee encourages you to register online at www.tourofalberta.ca.
Nicole Veerman
[email protected]
