It’s official–stage one of the Tour of Alberta will be held in Jasper on Sept. 1.
The long-awaited announcement was made in Edmonton on Feb. 23.
“Without any disrespect to any other communities we’ve been to, the mountain stage in 2015 to this day is the best stage we’ve ever hosted,” Tour of Alberta CEO Duane Vienneau said earlier this week. “From the pure scenery to the level of competition to the local organizing committee, everything about it was tremendous.”
Jasper and Edmonton are the only two host communities for this year’s race. Riders will roll through the Rockies for stage one and follow a “hub-and-spoke” pattern with the final three stages starting and ending in Edmonton.
Detailed stage maps will be released later in the spring, but Vienneau said there was a “fairly good shot” racers would finish at Marmot Basin again.
Stage one will take place on the Friday of the Labour Day weekend allowing racers to complete the stage before the holiday crowds arrive.
“A big part of determining where you start and end each stage is that it has to work well with each community,” Vienneau explained. “So we’ll be in there before the long weekend, get our stage done on Friday and be heading back toward Edmonton. We don’t want to interfere with the public. You’re busy enough on the long weekend.”
Mayor Richard Ireland welcomed the news describing it as an “incredible opportunity.”
“This shared engagement confirms the strength and benefit of the long-standing tourism relationship between Jasper and Edmonton,” Ireland said in a press release.
“This is an incredible opportunity to showcase our region and to further solidify the link between our two communities.”
When news emerged in December that Jasper wanted to host a stage of the race again, many businesses in the downtown core balked at the idea.
In 2015 extensive road closures along Connaught Drive and Patricia Street during the race kept people away hurting businesses’ bottom line.
To alleviate fears, the Jasper Park Chamber of Commerce has been working with local business owners to ensure any disruptions to host the race, including road closures, are kept to a minimum. The race was also moved to the Friday before the Labour Day long weekend.
“We are looking forward to working with residents and the business community to develop an engaging festival atmosphere, ensuring we strike the balance between accommodating the race organizers’ needs and meeting the expectations of our downtown merchants,” wrote Pattie Pavlov, general manager for the Jasper Park Chamber of Commerce.
“We are working closely with our community partners and we encourage the business community to get involved and take part in the planning process with us.”
Neil Byatt, co-owner of Rock & Jade who spoke up about his concerns in January, said his main concern is about his business.
“In terms of being a supporter or not being a supporter of the race, I don’t have a lean either way,” said Byatt, who recently became a board member with the Chamber.
“My priority is to ensure that it doesn’t impact my business and the businesses around me the way it did last time because we just can’t afford it.”
In January he told council that the last time the race was held in Jasper business at his store was down by about a third on what is traditionally his second busiest weekend of the year.
Rick Lagace, store manager for TGP, also told council at the time that sales at his store were down between 20 and 30 per cent.
Despite their concerns, council unanimously approved spending $50,000 to host the event on Dec. 20. The money was contingent on support from the other members of the Jasper Partnership Initiative, which are now in support of the race.
The Tour of Alberta is Canada’s top-ranked professional road race and one of its largest touring events. Now in its fifth year, the event is typically watched by about 47 million people in more than 160 countries, according to a press release from the municipality.
In 2015, Jasper National Park hosted two stages of the race on Sept. 4 and 5. Stage three started in Grande Cache and finished with a 17-kilometre hill climb up Miette Road to the hot springs, while stage four started in town and went into a three-lap circuit along the Icefields Parkway before finishing with a 12-km climb to Marmot Basin.
According to data provided by the tour, in 2015 the race generated $9.6 million in direct economic impact, of which $2.2 million was spent in Jasper.
“In addition to successfully enhancing community pride and positively contributing to community exposure on the international stage, the efforts of our local organizing committee revealed an incredible depth of community capacity,” wrote Ireland.
Those that are interested in helping with this year’s event are encouraged to send their resume and expression of interest to the local organizing committee at [email protected]. Applications will be accepted until the positions are filled.
Craig Gilbert
[email protected]
