0
comments
This past week the inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge rolled through Colorado and ended up being a massive success. Richard Scharf from Visit Denver noted in a news article that tens of millions of people from 160 different countries watched the race on television, and towns like Breckenridge reported their largest crowds in history. While expected revenue for the state was estimated around $70 million, rumor has it that it ended up being closer to $100 million. The race highlighted 11 cities this year, including Colorado Springs, Crested Butte, Salida, Steamboat Springs, Vail, Breckenridge, Golden, Denver, Avon, Gunnison, and Aspen. The 11 different cities for next year won't be chosen until December, yet the committee is already getting overwhelming amounts of bids, which they say, "is a good problem to have". Excitingly, the first five overall winners were all from the USA, with Levi Leipheimer coming in first.
I was kind of bummed I had to work because I really didn't want to miss the race and all the action that went along with it. Luckily me and a fellow co-worker (because of our good work ethic) got to go out with two of our managers and watch the race go by on company time, I was stoked! There was an insane amount of vehicles, including police cars/motorcycles that started driving down the road a good 10 minutes before the first group of bikers cruised by. What was even more surprising was that once the first 5 bikers went by with their entourage, it was a good 5 minutes before the next large group came through. Below is a video I took with the first 4 leaders, followed by the next group (which was also the largest). The video below that are the highlights from TV of stage 5, that ended in Breckenridge.
