The ATB Tour of Alberta was a Canadian bicycle stage race, which raced across the province of

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. It was sanctioned by

Union Cycliste Internationale The ''Union Cycliste Internationale'' (UCI; ; en, International Cycling Union) is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland. The UCI issues raci ...

(UCI) and was part of the

UCI America Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, th ...

. It was classified as a 2.1 race, making it one of the highest rated races on the tour. The

inaugural In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inaugur ...

tour featured a prologue and five stages, and was held September 3–8, 2013. On February 15, 2018 the Alberta Peloton Association announced that the event was being cancelled.

History

The Tour of Alberta was the brainchild of former professional cyclist Alex Steida, who was the first North American cyclist to wear the

Yellow Jersey The general classification is the most important classification, the one by which the winner of the Tour de France is determined. Since 1919, the leader of the general classification wears the yellow jersey (french: maillot jaune ). History Th ...

in the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

. After moving to

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

, Steida felt that the local geography and the ability of residents to "roll up their sleeves and get stuff done" made the province an ideal place for a multi-stage race and he spent nearly a decade promoting the idea. The idea began to take shape in 2012 when proponents secured support from the Rural Alberta Development Fund, which believed such a race could promote the province to a world audience. The proposed race was sanctioned by UCI in late 2012 and given a 2.1 classification, making it one of the highest rated events on the UCI America Tour.

Classifications

The race had six individual classifications, and the leader in each wore a special jersey in similar fashion to the

: * Yellow jersey:

General classification The general classification (or the GC) in road bicycle racing is the category that tracks overall times for riders in multi-stage races. Each stage will have a stage winner, but the overall winner in the GC is the rider who has the fastest cumulat ...

(overall leader) * Green jersey: Sprint classification * Jersey polkadot

Polka dot jersey:

Mountains classification The King of the Mountains (KoM) is an award given to the best climbing specialist in a men's cycling road race; in women's cycle racing A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a femal ...

* White jersey:

Young rider classification Young rider classification (french: classement général des jeunes) is a cycling jersey competition in multi-day stage race events, such as the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and many others, which awards the current leader by overall time for rid ...

* Red jersey: Canadian rider classification * Blue jersey: Most aggressive rider

Results

General classification

Other classifications

References

External links

* {{Tour of Alberta Cycle races in Canada UCI America Tour races 2013 establishments in Alberta Recurring sporting events established in 2013 2018 disestablishments in Alberta Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2018