Dolores Town officials are anxiously awaiting the official word from the USA Pro Cycling Challenge organizers about the route of their race this summer.
Word has already been announced that Durango will start the race, which brought 135 of the worlds best road cyclists to Colorado last year
This is a great opportunity that has fallen in our laps, said Dolores Town Manager Ryan Mahoney.
The inaugural race, hosted in Colorado last year, was a huge success and attracted more than 1 million spectators, according to race organizers. The Colorado economy was the beneficiary of $83.5 million in economic impact because of the race, organizers estimate. Last years race, which took place in late August, drew the best road cycling riders in the world, including some of the top competitors from the top race in the world the Tour de France.
In addition, the race gave Colorado 25 hours of national television coverage on NBC and Versus and aired in 161 countries.
All those people and airtime, could help Dolores get publicity and much-needed sales tax revenue.
Mahoney told the Dolores Town Board last week to begin planning for the onslaught of cyclists and cycling enthusiasts on Aug. 20.
They will close the highway down for three hours, Mahoney said.
But the official route has only been leaked by the Denver Post, no word has come from organizers themselves. In December, organizers announced the host cities for the starts and finishes of the races and announced that stage one of the seven-stage race, would begin in Durango and end in Telluride.
The Post article said racers would have to go over Lizard Head Pass, which would send them likely through Mancos, up Highway 184 and into Dolores on their way to Telluride.
The only other alternative would be to head north of Durango and over a series of brutal passes: Coal Bank, Molas and Red Mountain.
Many are banking the racers will head through Dolores.
Those bikers can certainly handle it (the Durango-Silverton route to Telluride) but I doubt they will start a seven-stage race with something that difficult, said Dolores resident and former professional cyclist Michael Engleman.
Engleman has raced in eight world championships and says the course for these world-class races is usually lined with people.
People would start camping along the route a week before the race, he said. It was a party atmosphere.
Engleman currently works as the developer of the U.S. Womens Cycling Program and is a bit upset that the race isnt including a womens cycling component, but is still excited the male athletes will likely come through town.
It is going to be awesome for this area, Engleman said. In France, towns fight to have the race come through.
The race, many say, is a big deal.
I dont think people realize how big this is. It is like having the World Series in your town, said Scott Darling, co-owner of Kokopelli Bike and Board in Cortez.
Racers will likely come through Dolores very quickly, followed by their support crews.
Judy Hassell, executive director of the Buena Vista Chamber of Commerce, knows just how big the race is. The cyclists raced through her small town last year.
We got a lot of publicity out of it, she said.
People in Buena Vista lined the streets to cheer the cyclists on and even had parties to celebrate.
We had the most people of any of the small towns they went through, Hassell said. It was a fun thing.
Hassell said that because their town was in the middle of the route, not a lot of people stayed, they just drove through, but she expects more might stay this year.
I dont know if we made a lot of money, but the exposure and the P.R. was good, she said.
Hassell said the town put up banners, flags and she even purchased balloons to welcome the riders.
The town also had to make arrangements for emergency vehicles since the highway was closed for several hours.
The whole town just sort of stopped for a few hours, she said.
The race is going to go through Buena Vista again and she said the town will do a few things differently.
We are going to have more parties and activities in the park, she said. We will also have more televisions set up so people can go inside businesses to watch the race when it isnt in town.
Hassell said it was a fun experience in all.
The atmosphere was so fun and upbeat, she said.
