Provisional Rosters Announced for Tour of Alberta

Defending-champion Bauke Mollema And Canadian Superstar Ryder Hesjedal Of Trek-segafredo Highlight List Of Cyclists Announced For September’s Tour Of Alberta

EDMONTON, ALBERTA – The Tour of Alberta presented by ATB Financial, September 1-5, 2016, announced today the participation of Team Canada and Ukraine-licensed Amore & Vita, in addition to a full list of preliminary rosters for all squads.

Defending-Champion Bauke Mollema and Canadian Superstar Ryder Hesjedal of Trek-Segafredo highlight list of cyclists announced for the Tour of Alberta presented by ATB Financial, September 1 through 5, 2016.

Mollema, who won the 2015 Tour of Alberta presented by ATB Financial, finished 11th overall at the Tour de France this year, but had been positioned for a podium spot before crashing in the final days of the three-week long marathon event. Hesjedal will compete in one of the final races of his professional career. Hesjedal is considered one of Canada’s top road cyclists of all time and won the 2012 Giro d’Italia, considered the biggest race outside the Tour de France.

“We’re bringing a strong team to Alberta, for sure,” Hesjedal said. “I’d like to think I could be that guy for our team for the race, but you have to remember this is a professional sport. The guys with the best legs and feeling the best are the guys you need to support. It’s about winning. We’ll see how the race rolls out and what opportunities there are for the team. You never know sometimes until you get into the race as to who has the best form. This race, though I haven’t studied it a lot, seems to be without the uphill finishes, which means it will be a race for opportunities. So, we’ll see. The strongest usually wins.”

Trek-Segafredo team also includes American Peter Stetina, two-time Tour de France stage winner Frank Schleck, veteran strongmen Gregory Rast and Stijn Devolder, a former two-time Belgium national champion.

The other Pro Tour team in the field, Cannondale-Drapac will also field a very strong team led by rising American star Lawson Craddock, the 3rd place overall in the 2015 Amgen Tour of California; Alex Howes, the top placing American in 11th place, at last year’s World Championships; Latvia’s Toms Skujins, a former stage winner at Amgen Tour of California; and Michael Woods, the top finishing Canadian in last year’s race.

“It’s great to welcome back our former race champion Bauke Mollema. It’s the first time we’ve had a defending champion return, and that’s always exciting for the fans,” said Tour of Alberta CEO Duane Vienneau. “The field features a massive amount of young talent, also. This race has always previewed future stars from Peter Sagan and Rohan Dennis in 2013 and Tom Dumoulin in 2014. Many of the young riders in this year’s race will be household names in future years.”

UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team returns to the Tour of Alberta presented by ATB Financial. The team is one of the top-ranked squads in the Americas and winner of several big races in the United States this season. The team will feature 2015 USA Pro Challenge (Colorado) stage winner John Murphy, two-time U.S. National Champion Matthew Busche, and top cyclocross racer Danny Summerhill.

The composite Canadian National Team will feature current Canadian National Champion Bruno Langlois and former Canadian National Champion Guillaume Boivin, and Antoine Duchesne, who won the KOM jersey at Paris-Nice, one of the biggest spring stage races in Europe.

Canada’s top professional club, Silber Pro Cycling team, will feature recent Tour of Utah stage winner Kris Dahl of Calgary; Benjamin Perry, the 2015 Tour of Alberta presented by ATB Financial KOM jersey winner; and former Canadian National Champion; and Ryan Roth, the current Canadian National Champion in individual time trial.

There are several surging continental teams, including Axeon Hagens Berman Cycling Team, led by Canadian resident general manager Axel Merckx, and Holowesko | Citadel Racing Team presented by Hincapie Sportswear, owned by prolific brothers Rich and George Hincapie. Axeon Hagens Berman Pro Cycling Team will feature current U.S. National Champion Gregory Daniel, the recent winner of the Tour de Beauce, one of Canada’s top races. Holowesko | Citadel Racing Team presented by Hincapie Sportswear will feature Robin Carpenter, a stage winner at the 2016 Tour of Utah and 2014 USA Pro Challenge and Travis McCabe, a stage winner at the 2016 Tour of Utah and 2014 NRC winner, which embodies the top U.S. races.

Jelly Belly presented by MAXXIS, which is currently the UCI Americas Tour team leader, will feature Canadian upstart Jordan Cheyne, and rising U.S. riders Chris Putt and Ben Wolfe.

Several top-level Grand Tour riders will be competing, including SkyDive Dubai Pro Cycling Team’s Francisco Mancebo of Spain, a five-time Tour de France Top 10 finisher and two-time podium finisher in the Tour of Spain; and Chris Horner of the American Lupus Racing Team, the 2013 Tour of Spain winner; and Rally Cycling’s Danny Pate of the United States, who has won a team time trial stage of the Giro d’Italia.

TREK-SEGAFREDO

1.Allegaert, Piet
2.Arredondo, Julian
3.Devolder, Stijn
4.Hesjedal, Ryder
5.Mollema, Bauke
6.Rast, Gregory
7.Schleck, Frank
8.Stetina, Peter

CANNONDALE-DRAPAC PRO CYCLING TEAM

1.Cardoso, Andre
2.Craddock, Lawson
3.Gaimon, Phil
4.Howes, Alex
5.Koren, Kristjan
6.Skjerping, Kristoffer
7.Skujins, Toms
8.Woods, Michael

UNITED HEALTH CARE PRO CYCLING TEAM

1.Clarke, Jonny
2.Busche, Mathew
3.Canola, Marco
4.Eaton, Daniel
5.Jones, Christopher
6.Summerhill, Danny
7.Murphy, John
8.Putt, Tanner

HOLOWESKO | CITADEL PB HINCAPIE SPORTSWEAR

1.Clark, Oscar
2.Carpenter, Robin
3.Flaksis, Andzs
4.Lewis, Joseph
5.McCabe, Travis
6.Brennan, Mac
7.Krasilnikau, Andrei
8.Bryon, Miguel

H&R BLOCK PRO CYCLING TEAM

1.Disera, Peter
2.Burke, Jack
3.Vandale, Danick
4.McKnight, Bailey
5.Samuel, Travis
6.Cote Bouvette, Felix
7.Rupnik, Jure
8.Prendergast, Christopher

SILBER PRO CYCLING

1. Cataford, Alex
2.Dahl, Kristofer
3.Dal-Cin, Matteo
4.Ellsay, Nigel
5.Jean, Emile
6.Masbourian, Nicolas
7.Perry, Benjamin
8.Roth, Ryan

AMORE & VITA-SELLE SMP

1.Zampaella, Marco
2.Halilaj, Redi
3.Galareta, David
4.Ficara, Pierpaolo
5.Campigli, Nicola
6.Pelegil, Oscar
7.Martins Sandoval, Uri
8.Celano, Danilo

JELLY BELLY P/B MAXXIS

1.Cheyne, Jordan
2.Berry, Joshua
3.Morton, Angus
4.Rathe, Jacob
5.Sheldon, Taylor
6.Wolfe, Benjamin
7.Castillo, Ulises
8.Putt, Christopher
**Subject to change.

RALLY CYCLING

1.Anthony, Jesse
2.Kline, Shane
3.Naud, Pierrick
4.Pate, Danny
5.Soladay, Thomas
6.Young, Eric
7.White, Curtis
8.Huffman, Evan

AXEON HAGENS BERMAN

1.Daniel, Greg
2.Dunbar, Eddie
3.Joyce, Colin
4.O’Donnell, Phil
5.Williams, Tyler
6.Young, Chad
7.Oien, Justin
8.Brown, Jonny

LUPUS RACING TEAM

1.Horner, Chris
2.Beyer, Chad
3.Chavarria, Joseph
4.Murphy, Evan
5.Jeannes, Matthieu
**Subject to change.
6.Tankersley, Nolan
7.Tanovitchii, Nicolae
8.Lewis, Bryan

SKY DIVE DUBAI

1.Al Ali, Ibrahim
2.Mancebo, Francisco
3.Palini, Andrea
4.Santaromita, Ivan
5.Zmorka, Marlen
6.Pinto, Edgar

CANADIAN NATIONAL TEAM

1.Boivin, Guillaume
2.Brisebois, Olivier
3.Cowan, Alec
4.Duchesne, Antoine
5.Jamieson, Adam
6.Langlois, Bruno
7.Roberge, Adam
8.Walsh, Ed

Velo Edmonton Gran Fondo

Join cyclists from around the globe for a true “feel-like-a-pro” experience and the ultimate public ride sportive at Canada’s first-ever Velothon! Velothon Edmonton will take place on the final day of the UCI 2.1 sanctioned Tour of Alberta presented by ATB Financial, making it one of the biggest cycling events in the America's and a memorable week of cycling in Alberta.

Ride roads in Alberta's Capital City that you've never experienced before on your bike (like the daunting curves of Groat Ride), plus ride the majority of the Tour of Alberta presented by ATB Financial's Stage 4 ITT course and Stage 5 circuit on 5th September 2016.

The event includes:

Three course options to suit your skill and interest levels (Velothon 60, Velothon 100, ATB Financial Family Ride)
Participation in a team or as an individual rider
Closed roads on a 20 km circuit
Ride the majority of Tour of Alberta’s Stage 4 Individual Time Trial course and the majority of Tour of Alberta’s Stage 5 circuit
Watch the professional cyclists compete in the final stage of the Tour of Alberta that same afternoon
Start and finish under the same truss as the Tour of Alberta presented by ATB Financial professional cyclists
Thousands of spectators in Edmonton to watch the Velothon Edmonton and Tour of Alberta presented by ATB Financial
Feed stations
Fully supported
Tour of Alberta presented by ATB Financial emcee to announce the Velothon Edmonton
Exciting festival atmosphere with local and international vendors

Click here for more details of the Velothon Edmonton.