Northern Colorado will host 2015 USA Pro Challenge

The USA Pro Challenge will return to Northern Colorado in 2015.

Cycling fans helped decide the host cities for Stage 6 of the 2015 race, and nearly half of the 3,000 responses during two weeks of online voting called for a return to the diverse and rugged cycling terrain of Larimer County.

"Our community is amazing," said Eric Thompson of the USA Po Challenge local organizing committee at a Monday morning press conference at Budweiser Events Center.

The world's top professional cyclists will ride from The Ranch in Loveland to Fort Collins Aug. 22, 2015, in the race's penultimate stage, on a "new and unique" route that will be revealed in the spring.

The 2015 Pro Challenge will also feature a women's race for the first time.

This is the second time in the professional race's five-year history it will venture this far north. Fort Collins, Loveland, Windsor and Estes Park partnered to host Stage 6 of the 2013 USA Pro Challenge. The local organizing committee decided against bidding for the 2014 race due to the devastating September 2013 floods.

Broadcast nationally on NBC and worldwide on the Internet, the race brought in an estimated $2 million to $4 million in media impact to Fort Collins, Loveland and Windsor in 2013.

"As you know, Northern Colorado is a culture of cycling," said Fort Collins mayor Karen Weitkunat. "In 2013, we showed you what Northern Colorado could do. We showed you it was the right location, the right environment and definitely the right people and partnerships to carry this off."

Thompson, Bob Herrfeldt and Jay Hardy are the co-chairs of the local organizing committee. They joked that with the announcement behind them, "Now the real work begins."

The committee has the support of the representative cities — Fort Collins, Loveland and Windsor. The cities of Fort Collins and Loveland have both pledged $100,000, and Windsor has agreed to $10,000. It costs about $500,000 to host the race, Thompson said.

"To watch how these municipalities synergize and collaborate to put on this race is remarkable," Thompson said.

He also said that after the floods of 2013, the same people who worked together on the Pro Challenge came together to help during the flood recovery.

Estes Park decided against being involved in the 2015 race, focusing its efforts on the continuing recovery. That means the 2015 route will not feature the Big Thompson Canyon, which attracted large crowds in Glen Haven and Drake in 2013.

Instead look for a shorter, "punchier" route than the 115.2-mile route riders tackled in Northern Colorado's Stage 6 in 2013. The new model in professional cycling is creating "more intense," stages rather than the 100-plus-mile slogs, said USA Pro Challenge race announcer Dave Towle. Circuits — where cyclists make several loops on the same course — are also increasingly popular and fan-friendly.

Pat McCarty, a retired professional rider and Fort Collins resident has some suggestions: Rist Canyon, Horsetooth Reservoir and perhaps a circuit in downtown Fort Collins.

"I think Rist Canyon is a pretty obvious place to take a race. The back side of that climb is pretty tough and it's a nice descent coming back in (to Fort Collins)," said McCarty, who is director of the Optum women's professional cycling team. "There was an unbelievable amount of people on those roads around the reservoir and it was a pretty excruciating part of the race for us racers, but it was really cool to see that many people out."

Thompson asked for fans' feedback in developing the course. Fans can submit their suggestions to the local organizing committee's Facebook, facebook.com/GoNoCoPro.

Though Fort Collins wasn't a part of the 2014 race, the Pro Challenge was as popular as ever this summer, drawing more than 1.1 million spectators to towns like Aspen, Breckenridge, Boulder and Denver. The race generated $130 million in economic impact, according to a report assembled by Boulder research firm Sponsorship Science.

Locally in 2013, thousands of fans packed into Old Town Fort Collins to watch world-class sprint specialist Peter Sagan win Stage 6 and cheer former Fort Collins cyclist Tejay van Garderen, the race's eventual winner.

Towle joked that "all of Windsor" showed up to watch the cyclists zoom through downtown. The race then roared through downtown Loveland during the annual Old-Fashioned Corn Roast festival, giving people who perhaps otherwise may not have been interested in cycling a chance to see the pro riders.

"Loveland and Fort Collins have been such great host cities in the past and we're looking forward to visiting them again," said Shawn Hunter, CEO of the USA Pro Challenge.

Xplore reporter Stephen Meyers covers the outdoors and recreation for the Coloradoan. Follow him on Twitter @stemeyer or Facebook.com/meyersreports.

2015 USA Pro Challenge

Stage 1: Aug. 17 – Steamboat Springs circuit

Stage 2: Aug. 18 – Steamboat Springs to Arapahoe Basin

Stage 3: Aug. 19 – Copper Mountain Resort to Aspen

Stage 4: Aug. 20 – Aspen to Breckenridge

Stage 5: Aug. 21 – Breckenridge individual time trial

Stage 6: Aug. 22 – Loveland to Fort Collins

Stage 7: Aug. 23 – Golden to Denver