Pikes Peak Region Trail Finder

Levi Leipheimer gets a kiss from the Pearl Izumi podium girls following the Time Trials in Vail during the 2011 USA Pro Cycling Challenge.  Dena Rosenberry, The Gazette

Folks in Durango are excited about landing the start of Stage 1 of the 2012 USA Pro Cycling Challenge bicycle race in August.

Ned Overend, a member of the United States Bicycling Hall of Fame, was thrilled about the news, according to The Durango Herald.

“It’ll showcase the mountains in this whole part of Colorado, which a lot of people don’t know about,” Overend said. “It’ll be great for cycling here. It’ll be good for tourism.”

Cyclists will start in Durango and finish in Telluride on Aug. 20, but organizers say the route will not be announced until spring. The race could head north over Coal Bank, Molas and Red Mountain passes or west, through Dolores and over Lizard Head Pass.

Race organizers noted that Durango puts on the annual Iron Horse Bicycle Classic, an event with 4,000 riders, has hosted the 1990 World Mountain Biking Championship, and the town is home to more professional cyclists, national champions and Olympians per capita than any other American city.

City officials hope Durango’s position as the first city on the route will give it extra exposure to the world audience and extra dollars as teams and crews arrive in advance of the race.

Read more about Durango's role in the 2012 race.