USA Pro Cycling Challenge will feature eight teams from Tour de France
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- Created on Sunday, 24 July 2011 15:29
- Written by USA Pro-Cycling Challenge
Rabobank is the latest pro cycling team to throw its helmet into the lineup of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, which rolls into Summit County next month, the organizers announced last week.
The final team roster includes several of the leading pro teams that have been slugging it out in the Tour de France: Leopard-Trek, Garmin-Cervelo, BMC Racing Team, HTC-Highroad, Liquigas-Cannondale, Team RadioShack, Saxo Bank-SunGard and now Rabobank. There are also four Pro Continental teams and five Continental teams, rounding out the roster at 17.
As many as 136 pro cyclists from around the globe are expected in the inaugural Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado. The roster of riders should be set in early August — after the pro teams regroup after a grueling Tour de France. That race, cycling's most prestigious event, is going down to the wire with at least four riders contending for the overall victory and several riders with a shot at podium spots.
Mark Joseph, technical director for the Aspen stage of the Pro Cycling Challenge, said virtually all the riders in the Tour de France will be heading to events in August. They won't take time off regardless of how tough this year's Tour de France is, he said.
“They have to crank away to the end of the season,” he said.
The USA Pro Cycling Challenge will take place Aug. 22-28, overlapping with the Tour of Spain. Any racer who isn't in Spain will be in Colorado, and Joseph is guessing that Colorado will be the bigger attraction. The Tour of Spain is “hot and hilly and tough,” he said. “It's really hard, day after day.”
The teams and their riders know that in the U.S. they can expect comfortable accommodations and fewer of the logistical headaches common with European races, Joseph said: “It's going to be a really fun race.”
Velo News reported this week that the USA Pro Cycling Challenge had to shuffle its lineup because of a rule that prevents different teams with common owners to compete in the same event. That resulted in the rescinding of invitations to the American under-23 development teams of Trek-Livestrong and Chipotle, according to Velo News. Trek-Livestrong is a developmental squad for RadioShack; Chipotle Developmental is connected to Garmin-Cervelo.
Breckenridge has been chosen to host one of six stage finishes for the Pro Cycle Challenge. The Stage-5 route will take racers from Steamboat Springs to Main Street, Breck.
The USA Pro Cycling Challenge is expected to be the largest spectator event in Colorado history and one of the largest sporting events to ever take place in the United States, Medalist Sports, the race's promoter, says.
For seven consecutive days, 128 of the world's top athletes will race across 518 miles through the Rockies, reaching higher altitudes than they've ever had to endure, more than two miles in elevation.
Breck's Stage 5 will be the only Saturday finish in the race, which will also likely contribute to the venue's popularity in terms of attracting spectators. The race consists of six stages plus a prolog, starting in Colorado Springs and ending in Denver.
Complete information on the USA Pro Cycling Challenge
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