Many of the world’s top professional bicycle racers are in Alberta this week.
It’s the start of the six-day Tour of Alberta, and includes six teams which compete in the Tour de France, and Pro-Continental teams from the Americas.
Top riders among the 120 competitors include the 2011 Tour de France winner,Cadel Evans, along with number 2 ranked cyclist Peter Sagan, of the Cannondale team, and 2012 Giro d’Italia champion, Canadian Ryder Hesjedal, who is one of 20 Canadians in this inaugural Alberta Tour.
The prologue 7.3km event goes this evening in Edmonton, an individual race against the clock which seeds riders by best time.
Cadel Evans, who also was runner-up in the Tour de France in 2007 and 2008, was in the city to practice this weekend and mentioned something familiar to residents and indeed many Canadians across the country.
Speaking to a welcoming crowd, he received rousing applause when he said,” I notice you have a few potholes in the city”.
Ryder Hesjedal, who is still recovering from an earlier flum and a broken rib suffered during the Tour de France, believes the race is going to be a close, regardless of the time-trial results.
“It’s very exciting, the racing is going to be tight,” he said. “But the real differences are going to be out on the road. Anything can happen on the road.”
The race runs 900 km through Camrose, Devon, Red Deer, Strathmore, Drumheller, Black Diamond and Okotoks before wrapping up in Calgary on Sunday.
Although another international race is held annually in the province of Quebec, it is a pro-am event and this inaugural Alberta event is considered to be the first Canadian world-class level event of this type.
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