After months of anticipation, the Tour of Alberta has finally released its route for the September bike race.
In Jasper, both finish lines were already announced—with 120 professional cyclists completing Stage 3 at Miette Hot Springs and Stage 4 at Marmot Basin—but, until last week, few details had been provided on the remainder of the route, including how those stages would play out prior to the mountaintop finishes.
On Sept. 4, cyclists will make their way down Highway 40 from Grande Cache, before turning onto Highway 16, entering Jasper National Park and ultimately making their final ascent up Miette Road to complete the 182-km ride.
The following day, cyclists will begin in Jasper at the intersection of Connaught Drive and Hazel Avenue, where they will begin a circuit of Highway 93A and Highway 93. They will pedal around that loop three times before finally pounding the pavement up to Marmot Basin, finishing the 162 km stage.
“The loop is south on Highway 93A and then the cyclists will make a left turn onto 93 and then head back,” explained Jeff Corbett, the tour’s technical director. “Once they’ve done three of those, with the northern juncture of 93A and 93 being the starting point of the loop, then they climb up to Marmot.
“I think that’s what everybody’s looking forward to.”
Tour organizers have worked for the past three years to secure a mountaintop finish in Jasper, so Corbett said that stage will be especially exciting, both for the cyclists and viewers.
“When you put those kinds of climbs at the tail end, they definitely carry a little extra stake. It’s nice because the riders can kind of empty the tank. They don’t have to go anywhere after that, so they can put every last breath into that climb, it’s not like they have to hold anything back.
“That makes the racing that you get on those kinds of climbs much more exciting. Nobody’s holding anything back, you’ve gotta leave it all on the road.”
The Tour of Alberta is a world class cycling event that attracts the same athletes who compete in the Tour de France.
So far five professional teams have confirmed their attendance, including four World Tour teams: Orica-GreenEdge of Australia, which won last year’s race; the Netherland’s Team Giant Alpecin; Russia’s Team Katusha—which has never competed in North America—and America’s Team Cannondale-Garin, which includes Canadian cyclist Ryder Hesjedal.
Australia’s Pro Continental squad, Drapac Professional Cycling, has also announced its participation.
The tour takes place from Sept. 2–7, with Stage 3 and 4 taking place in Jasper on Sept. 4 and 5.
From a technical perspective, Corbett said there are some logistical challenges with the routes in Jasper, but he said it’s nothing he can’t handle.
One of those challenges is that there is only one road to and from the mountaintop finishes at Marmot Basin and the Miette Hot Springs, leaving only one way in and out.
“We’ve got to get everything we need to the top of the mountain—we’ve got to get all the spectators up there, we’ve got to get all the equipment up there—but we also have to keep it safe for racing.
“That’s always a challenge and then certainly the traffic management piece on the loop will be unique, but that piece is coming together well.”
For the loop, Corbett’s plan is to turn each of the highways into one-way streets, in order to keep traffic moving throughout the race.
“When we’re on [Highway] 93 racing north, traffic will be on 93A moving south and then vice versa. We’re kind of taking the loop and turning each side of the loop into one-way traffic for the day, so we can still move people around the park with minimum inconvenience.
“Then at any one time we should be able to keep stoppages to probably no more than 20 minutes.
“The Marmot Road is a little different because that at one point during the day that will have to have a hard closure and be shut down for a couple hours. But, by that time, hopefully we have everybody in that we need to have in and nobody else needs to come down.”
Further logistics will be worked out in the coming weeks, as organizers ready themselves for the tour’s third year.
In the meantime, Jasper’s local organizing committee is also busy working on the event, coordinating the details for Jasper’s three festivals.
On Sept. 4, there will be a small festival at Miette Hot Springs and another held on the information centre lawn. The following day, there will again be a festival at the info centre, as well as one at Marmot Basin.
To volunteer for the September bike race, register at www.tourofalberta.ca. To contact Jasper’s local organizing committee, email Ellen Eadie at
[email protected].
