{"id":2444465,"date":"2019-05-21T22:56:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-22T04:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/colorado-classic-womens-professional-cycling-race-to-host-1st-stage-in-steamboat-springs\/"},"modified":"2019-05-21T22:56:00","modified_gmt":"2019-05-22T04:56:00","slug":"colorado-classic-womens-professional-cycling-race-to-host-1st-stage-in-steamboat-springs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/colorado-classic-womens-professional-cycling-race-to-host-1st-stage-in-steamboat-springs\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado Classic women\u2019s professional cycling race to host 1st stage in Steamboat Springs"},"content":{"rendered":"
Team Jelly Belly support staff member Larry Foss holds out a bag of food and water for the approaching peloton in 2011 in South Routt during the USA Pro Challenge.<\/strong>
Joel Reichenberger\/Steamboat Today<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS \u2014 Steamboat Springs will be the first stop on the third annual Colorado Classic, a professional four-stage road cycling race.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 2019 Colorado Classic starting in Steamboat Springs is a great fit,\u201d Steamboat Springs Chamber CEO Kara Stoller said in a news release. \u201cOur community lives and breathes the race mission every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally started in 2017 as a men\u2019s and women\u2019s professional race, the Colorado Classic discontinued its men\u2019s division, establishing itself as the only standalone women\u2019s stage race in the Western Hemisphere. This is its first year as a member of the USA Cycling Pro Road Tour.<\/p>\n

Steamboat will be the first stop of the stage race Thursday, Aug. 22, with a start and finish in town and a loop through Oak Creek. The Colorado Classic also will stop in Avon and Golden before finishing in Denver on Sunday, Aug. 25.<\/p>\n

This is not the first time Steamboat has hosted a professional cycling race. The city hosted stages of the USA Pro Challenge in 2011, 2013 and 2015. That stage race was started by Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter and famed cyclist Lance Armstrong. The race fell through after 2015 when it couldn\u2019t find enough sponsorships to continue.<\/p>\n

The Pro Challenge was modeled after the Coors Classic, Colorado\u2019s original pro cycling race from 1980 to 1988.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe impacts of closures will be much more minimal and so will the amount of volunteer time that\u2019s needed from an organizing standpoint as well as on the execution side,\u201d Stoller said Tuesday. \u201cThose requests are quite less substantial as well compared to the Pro Challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Steamboat stage of the Colorado Classic is sponsored by VF Corp., which owns Smartwool.<\/p>\n

Bike races of this magnitude have been costly to the city in the past, but sponsorships help minimize those costs, City Manager Gary Suiter said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is exactly what we\u2019re hoping for in a professional biking race,\u201d Suiter said. \u201cThey have a major sponsor and are willing to pay for city services. That\u2019s consistent with special events policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stoller echos that sentiment, saying the Chamber will assist with finding lodging for the cyclists while the city and county work on the permitting process. Volunteers will be needed only for the race day operation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always nice to be able to host professional events,\u201d Suiter said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of professional-caliber athletes. It\u2019s very consistent with our image, and we\u2019d like to see that continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

lvann@SteamboatPilot.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Team Jelly Belly support staff member Larry Foss holds out a bag of food and water for the approaching peloton in 2011 in South Routt during the USA Pro Challenge.Joel Reichenberger\/Steamboat Today STEAMBOAT SPRINGS \u2014 Steamboat Springs will be the first stop on the third annual Colorado Classic, a professional four-stage road cycling race. \u201cThe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2444465","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-18 15:39:16","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2444465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444465\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2444465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2444465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2444465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}