Race organizers for the ATB Tour of Alberta announced rosters for the four-day professional stage race, September 1 – 4, which includes several winners and high-place finishers from the biggest cycling events in North America.
Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling Team (USA) will tout the strongest team in the field, including Nathan Brown, a two-day KOM jersey bearer from this year’s Tour de France; Lawson Craddock, 3rd place finisher in the 2015 Amgen Tour of California; Alex Howes, recent 3rd place finisher in the Colorado Classic; and Tom Jelte-Slagter, the 3rd place finisher in the 2015 ATB Tour of Alberta and winner of the stage in Jasper National Park, which will be featured as Stage 1 of this year’s race.
“This year’s field has a lot of top performers from major races in North America the past couple years, including numerous past stage winners from our race,” said ATB Tour of Alberta President/CEO Scott Fisher. “Cycling fans will be familiar with many of these stars of the sport.”
Defending-champion Robin Carpenter of the Holowesko | Citadel presented by Hincapie Sportswear team crashed at the Tour of Utah earlier this month and will not make it to Alberta to defend his title, according to the team’s director Thomas Craven.
Holowesko | Citadel presented by Hincapie Sportswear team, however, will feature a strong team, including T.J. Eisenhart, who was a one-day leader at the Colorado Classic this year; John Murphy, a stage winner at both the 2017 Tour of Utah and Colorado Classic; Ty Magner, a stage winner and one-day leader of the 2017 Tour of Utah; Andzs Flaksis, the winner of the 2017 Tour de Beauce, Canada’s second biggest stage race.
Canada’s top three teams will be competing with their top riders. Silber Pro Cycling will feature Pier-Andre Cote, 3rdplace finisher at the Canadian National Championships this year; former National Champion Ryan Roth, and rising star Nigel Ellsay, 7th place finisher overall at the 2016 ATB Tour of Alberta. H&R Block Pro Cycling is led by upstart Travis Samuel, 5th overall in Canada’s Grand Prix Cycliste de Saguenay. And, Garneau-Quebecor will be led by Bruno Langlois, the 2016 Canadian National Champion.
Canadian Rob Britton, the winner of the 2017 Tour of Utah, will lead Rally Racing. The team will include Matteo Dal-Cinthe current Canadian National Champion, as well as Colin Joyce, who was a two-day leader of last year’s ATB Tour of Alberta and Evan Huffman, who won a stage last year in Alberta. Huffman won two stages at this year’s Amgen Tour of California, a race that featured most of this year’s Tour de France teams.
Other names to watch include: Jelly Belly presented by Maxxis’s Serghei Tvetcov, who won a stage and placed 2ndoverall at this year’s Colorado Classic and 3rd overall at Tour of Utah this year, and three-time Tour of Colombia winner Oscar Sevilla of Medellin-Inder. Sevilla was once a runner-up of the Tour of Spain.
UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team will feature Janier Acevedo, a former podium finisher at Amgen Tour of California, Travis McCabe, the recent Sprint Jersey winner at the Colorado Classic, 2016 ATB Tour of Alberta stage winner Tanner Putt, and Daniel Eaton, the 2016 U.S. National Champion, and Alex Cataford of Canada, who finished 5th overall in last year’s race and was Best Young Rider. Italian team Amore & Vita-Delle SMP presented by Fondriest will front former Albanian National Champion Redi Halilaj and top sprinter Marco Zamparella.
Team Aevolo boasts top developmental riders from four different countries and Elevate –KHS Pro Cycling will feature James Piccoli of Canada and sprinter Jose Alfredo Rodriguez, who finished on the podium of stages recently in Tour of Utah and Colorado Classic.