Mellow Velo said:
Utah, with a few years under it's belt, got the course about right.
It may take Colorado a few years of course tinkering to get the most out of it's quality field.
However, imo, those who are trying to sell dour attrition, as some form of "different", yet marketable excitement, are some way off the mark.
This machine is broken and needs to be fixed. It's down to the locals to recognize the need and get it sorted.
Mellow, as I argued last year, part of the problem for getting this kind of race off the starting blocks is convincing the local governments and law enforcement officials that the upside far outweighs the downsides. Aside from an entrenched dislike us Yanks have for having our daily routines disrupted, we face the same problems that prevents the Tour from finishing atop Puy-de-Dôme or Col de la Madeliene, or the Giro finishing atop Finistere or Colle dell'Angello, or even (my dream) Stelvio.
Ignoring the daunting logistics all inherently present, the sponsoring towns want the race to actually (start or) finish in that town. Until they realize that fans will willingly stay in said towns and then travel to the finish lines, those spending the capital to host these stages will be reluctant to host a finish outside its boundries. Vail has learned years ago that if they host an international event worthy of international attention, fans (meaning paying costumers) will come (FIS Alpine Skiing World Championships in 1989 and 1999). It will take some time for the other mountain resorts to learn this lesson. They will more quickly learn the lesson by having stages such as today's ITT, with it's fairly impressive attendance, and especially without all the petty sniping so endemic in this forum.
Finally, some here stupidly mistake my enthusiasm for this race as sycophantic devotion. No. I merely love to see the top pro cyclists racing over roads that I have ridden. The Tour's ascents of Izoard and Galibier, the Giro's ascents of Fedaia and Manghen are just as exciting to me as yesterdays ascent of Independence and tomorrows climb up Rabbit Ears.
There are so many other good roads here in Colorado that given a successful inaugural race will be used in the years to come. I am unwilling to poo-poo this race just because it has failed to live up to my desires.
(For what it is worth, check out my ride collections on Bikemap.net; I mapped out a far different, and more challenging Tour of Colorado - last year! All can be found under the screen-name I use here.)
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