2013 Tour of Alberta, 3rd - 8th September (2.1)

[darwin553]

Way to go Evans, about time he got a win.

Yep the old boy has still got some life in him yet.

 

[Afrank]

Must have been a boring stage, no posts during it.

Anyway, Sagan just won easily.

He won it in the turn and showed us a new victory salute, love Sagan.

 

[Cyivel]

Sagan wins easily, off the charts interest.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

So easy. He was celebrating half a mile before the line.

 

[brilleaben]

Lol, Renshaw lead Sagan out perfectly. He just can't shake that role.

 

[maltiv]

Lol, Renshaw lead Sagan out perfectly. He just can't shake that role.

That wasn't Renshaw.

Some mad cornering skills by Sagan right there. He barely even had to sprint as he already had 5 bike lengths.

 

[winkybiker]

Must have been a boring stage, no posts during it.

Anyway, Sagan just won easily.

Yeah, I was half watching. Dull-as-dishwater parcours (like the rest of the race - what were they thinking in deliberately avoiding any mountains, or hills of any kind whatsoever? It isn't like Alberta doesn't have really spectacular mountains.). Sagan finished it perfectly. Too fast through the last corner (which was bizarrely close to the finish - were the organisers hoping for a crash?) for anyone to be close.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Lol, Renshaw lead Sagan out perfectly. He just can't shake that role.

Must have been Hofland I think, not Renshaw

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Amazing final interview with Sagan, who clearly didn't have a breeze what the interviewer was saying. He has this completely bewildered expression on his face throughout.

 

[Ad Rock]

Yeah, I was half watching. Dull-as-dishwater parcours (like the rest of the race - what were they thinking in deliberately avoiding any mountains, or hills of any kind whatsoever? It isn't like Alberta doesn't have really spectacular mountains.). Sagan finished it perfectly. Too fast through the last corner (which was bizarrely close to the finish - were the organisers hoping for a crash?) for anyone to be close.

Its not as easy as you think to run a race through the mountains over here.... the only mountain roads we have are all in National Parks, and early fall is bear mating season.... plus its not uncommon for Moose, grizzlys, mountain sheep, etc to wander out onto the roads, which would almost guarantee race-stoppage every hour or two. These factors combined mean there is nearly no chance that Parks Canada would allow a massive race caravan to pass through. We have one race, Banff Bike Fest, in early June; but the stages have to be kept relatively short and close to the town of Banff and every year I've done it we've been neutralized by wildlife. Besides - none of our mountain roads are particularly steep or feature particularly long climbs anyways....the only one I can really think of is the climb up Mt.Norquay which is less than 4kms.

You should note that the 2nd last stage was *supposed* to be Black Diamond to Canmore over Highwood Pass (highest paved pass in Canada and 2000m vertical gain) but the road was washed out by the recent floods - so cut the organizers some slack .... I spoke to the co-founder of the race yesterday and he said they may be able to encorporate some mountain roads next year....

 

[silverrocket]

Its not as easy as you think to run a race through the mountains over here.... the only mountain roads we have are all in National Parks, and early fall is bear mating season.... plus its not uncommon for Moose, grizzlys, mountain sheep, etc to wander out onto the roads, which would almost guarantee race-stoppage every hour or two. These factors combined mean there is nearly no chance that Parks Canada would allow a massive race caravan to pass through. We have one race, Banff Bike Fest, in early June; but the stages have to be kept relatively short and close to the town of Banff and every year I've done it we've been neutralized by wildlife. ...]

Actually bears mate in the spring. Fall is when bears are doing the last of their frantic feeding before winter and a lot of those berry bushes are near the roadsides. Banff Bike Fest actually takes place around the time of bear mating season (and elk calving season) and Parks Canada was very reluctant to allow that race, so no surprise a major pro race was not allowed.