Tour of Alberta announces 2015 stage details
The organizers of the Tour of Alberta held a press teleconference on Thursday to announce details of the 2015 edition of the six-stage, 2.1 UCI-rated race from September 2 to 7.
Duane Vienneau, the race’s Executive Director, said, “We’ve worked diligently with our host communities, government officials, and technical partners to create a unique course. From the inception of our first-ever Team Time Trial, the two mountain finishes, and our longest stage to date, we’re confident that the 2015 race will be one that intrigues fans. This will be one for the ages and a postcard of our province to the world.”
The team time trial is a change from the individual time trials of the first two Tours of Alberta. Grand Prairie will host the 19.6-km, mostly flat event, which begins and ends at the East Link Centre. Grand Prairie County will also be the setting for Stage 2, a 171-km road stage that concludes with two 20-km loops containing a 1.5-km climb from the Wapiti River valley.
Riders face heavier climbing in Stage 3, which travels southeast from Grand Cache skirting Jasper National Park and finishes with two ascents, including the first ever Tour of Alberta summit finish at Miette Hot Springs in the park.
Stage 4 stays in the park for three circuits of the Icefield Parkway. Kicking off in Jasper, the stage finishes with another climb, the tough 12-km grind to Marmot Basin at 1600 metres.
ROUTE >> SEPT. 5 | STAGE 4: @TourismJasper to @MarmotBasin | #TOA pic.twitter.com/jWoPfwl0yT
— Tour of Alberta (@TourOfAlberta) June 4, 2015
The organizers have found another way of challenging the riders on Stage 5. Besides being the longest stage in the race’s history at 206-km, September 6 contains 56.4 kilometres of dirt roads over six sectors from Edson to Spruce Grove, home of Optum’s Ryan Anderson, best Canadian in the first two editions of the Tour of Alberta.
ROUTE >> SEPT. 6 | STAGE 5: @townofedson to @citysprucegrove | #TOA pic.twitter.com/ddbfqhICvX
— Tour of Alberta (@TourOfAlberta) June 4, 2015
The race concludes on the same Edmonton circuit course where on 2014’s last stage Daryl Impey of Orica-GreenEdge lifted the yellow jersey off of Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) while the skies threatened snow. Starting and finishing at Sir Winston Churchill Square, the riders will tackle 11-laps, each with an ascent of Bellamy Hill.
So far WorldTour squads Cannondale-Garmin, Giant-Alpecin, Orica-GreenEdge and Katusha have been confirmed for the race, along with Australian Pro-Continental outfit Drapac.
