City of Lethbridge places a bid to host Tour of Alberta prologue

The city of Lethbridge hopes to win a bid to host the start of the Tour of Alberta, a professional men’s bike race set to start on Sept. 2 and conclude on Sept. 7 in Edmonton. The city approved $300,000 to fund the prologue event.

According to a Lethbridge Herald report, the funding would come from the city’s revenue stabilization reserve. “I don’t view $300,000 as an unjustifiable amount of money,” said Mayor Chris Spearman.

Last year, the inaugural Tour of Alberta started in Edmonton with a prologue and ended in Calgary on high-speed circuits, and hosted 120 world-class bike racers.  The event reportedly attracted more than 300,000 spectators and 41 million TV viewers from around the world.

Rohan Dennis (Garmin-Sharp) won the overall title ahead of Brent Bookwalter (BMC) and Damiano Caruso (Cannondale). Peter Sagan (Cannondale) won three stages during the race and the sprint competition.  Tom Jelte Slagter (Belkin) won the best climber competition.

Canada’s Ryan Anderson (Optum presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies) placed eighth overall and won the best Canadian rider competition ahead of Alex Cataford and Antoine Duchesne.