After pedalling a gruelling 165 kms from Grande Cache, Tour of Alberta cyclists will test their endurance with a 17-km hill climb to the top of Miette Road, Sept. 4.
Last week, the Tour of Alberta announced Miette Hot Springs as the Stage 3 finish line for the international cycling event, making it the first of two mountain top finishes in Jasper National Park. The second will take place at Marmot Basin the following day.
Organizers haven’t yet announced the detailed race routes for Jasper, but both finish lines are now known and it’s anticipated that the Stage 4 start line will be located in the townsite.
Until now, there has been a lot of talk about the Marmot Basin finish, but Matt Decore, Jasper’s local organizing committee co-chair, said Stage 3 is shaping up to be equally as exciting.
That excitement will start with the intense crosswinds on Highway 16, which will force the racers to break the peloton, forming a number of small pace lines to protect themselves against that wind.
“What happens is the peloton can’t stay together because there’s no shelter from the wind, so what the riders will do is they’ll break into little groups of five or six riders strung out across the road and then there will be a break and another five to six riders, so you’ll see multiple lines of riders form on the road,” explained Decore, a former pro racer with more than 20 years of experience.
“It won’t be until they make that shift, that last left turn up the Miette Road, that hopefully the peloton will regroup, but then it goes into a hill climb, so it’s going to be a really exciting day—not only is it a long day, but you also have to deal with the crosswind of Highway 16 through that early part of the national park, then there’s the final turn, but there’s no reprieve either, because now you get into a very steep hill top finish.
“It’s a very exciting stage.”
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, 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 before 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.
“Alberta is a significant race for us,” said Drapac Sports Director, Tom Southam in a press release, “as it will allow our riders to once again race against some of the best in the world, while maintaining our focus on the North American Cycling Calendar for 2015.
“We will bring a diverse roster to Alberta and will be looking to showcase our sprint team for stage wins.”
With the World Championships taking place in North America just two weeks after the Tour of Alberta, the world’s top teams and cyclists are using the tour as a last chance to prepare, said Decore, noting that having two mountaintop finishes will be a huge selling point to attract more teams.
“Cycling will not get any better than the two days we have in Jasper,” he said. “[The tour is] starting to design races now where you’re attracting the big stars.
“We’ll see the top teams here with the top riders.”
The tour takes place from Sept. 2–7, with Stage 3 and 4 taking place in Jasper on Sept. 4 and 5.
The inaugural event was held in 2013, taking cyclists from Edmonton to Calgary; in 2014 the route was reversed.
Now that the event is established, attracting 200,000 spectators and 41 million international television viewers, the route has been revamped to showcase other areas of Alberta.
This will be the tour’s first time heading north, with the race beginning with time trials in Grande Prairie on Sept. 2.
The following day, the County of Grande Prairie will host Stage 2 and on Sept. 4, riders will make their way from Grande Cache to Jasper, making up Stage 3 of the race.
Stage 4, both its start and finish, will be in Jasper. Then, the riders will be driven to Edson, where they will start Stage 5, cycling to Spruce Grove.
The final stage is a circuit race in Edmonton.
While in Jasper, there will be three festivals. The first will be on Sept. 4 at Miette Hot Springs, when the cyclists complete Stage 3.
Decore said that will be a bare bones festival, compared to what will be taking place in town on the information centre lawn that afternoon and the next morning. The largest festival will be at the Marmot Basin finish line on Sept. 5.
“We want to get as many people as possible spectating at both those hill tops, but certainly at Marmot we’re going to have a main stage, we’ll have some musical entertainment and we’ll have a jumbotron, a BBQ, beer sales and what not.
“If we get a nice sunny day, sitting up in the mountain flowers of September at Marmot would make for just a great outing for anyone, and we’re hoping to get a ton of people up there spectating.”
There are a number of logistical things to sort out to make those festivals possible—like shuttle buses—but Decore said he’s confident that by the time September rolls around, the local organizing committee will have them sorted out.
“We know that it’s going to be a bit complex, getting thousands of people up there, and how do we also get them down? Those are some of things that we’re working very hard on with Marmot Basin, with Parks Canada and with the Tour of Alberta.”
Anyone interested in joining the local organizing committee or sponsoring the event is encouraged to contact Ellen Eadie at [email protected], and those interested in volunteering during the September event are asked to register at www.tourofalberta.ca.
Nicole Veerman
[email protected]
