Set to begin next year in September. The course has a ton of errors in it such as excessively long stages and bunched mountain stages, but I think it will likely be repaired in time before this thing would get under way. Another thing that has to be changed is the ending stage location and an added ride through Chicagoland. For one, if you're going to end a huge Tour you have to have it be in somewhere with more energy. Second, why pass up on Chicagoland which has one of the largest cycling communities in the United States? Stages I have bolded in black are the only truly great ones in the current layout. I'll explain why later on. The ones with their miles in red text are far too excessive in length.</p> </p> Stage 1 - Central Park, NY to Philadelphia, PA (122 miles)</p> Stage 2 - Philadelphia, PA to <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">College Park, MD (<font color="#ff0000">135 miles</font>)</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">Stage 3 - Olney, MD to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">Frederick, MD (30 miles, Team Time Trial)</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">Stage 4 - Winchester, VA to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">Morgantown, WV (<font color="#ff0000">139 miles</font>)</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">Stage 5 - Fairmont, WV to Athens, OH (<font color="#ff0000">142 miles</font>)</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">Stage 6 - </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">McArthur, OH to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">Cincinnati, OH (125 miles)</span></p> Stage 7 - Greenfield, IN to Indianapolis, IN (27 miles, Time Trial) <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">Stage 8 - Casey, IL to St. Louis, MO (<font color="#ff0000">143 miles</font>)</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">Stage 9 - St. Louis, MO to Columbia, MO (<font color="#ff0000">134 miles</font>)</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">* Rest day *</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">Stage 10 - Denver, CO to Buena Vista, CO (<font color="#ff0000">120 miles</font>)</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">Stage 11 - Poncha Springs, CO to Pagosa Springs, CO (<font color="#ff0000">135 miles</font>)</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">Stage 12 - Farmington, NM to Gallup, NM (118 miles)</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">Stage 13 - Window Rock, AZ to Winslow, AZ (<font color="#ff0000">125 miles</font>)</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">Stage 14 - Cameron, AZ to Williams, AZ (113 miles)</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">Stage 15 - Kingman, AZ to to Las Vegas, NV (110 miles)</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">Stage 16 - Las Vegas, NV to Las Vegas, NV (35 miles, Time Trial)</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">* Rest day *</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">Stage 17 - Ridgecrest, CA to Whitney Portal, CA (92 miles)</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">Stage 18 - Big Pine, CA to Yosemite, CA (118 miles)</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">Stage 19 - Harden Flat, CA to Sacramento, CA (127 miles)</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">Stage 20 - Napa, CA to Santa Rosa, CA (40 miles, Time Trial)</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">Stage 21 - Santa Rosa, CA to Palo Alto, CA (107 miles)</span></p> </p> </p> Explainations:</p> </p> Stage 1: This is a great start to the Tour. They will need a short Prologue stage in better parts of NYC to make it a perfect to start the event.</p> Stage 2: Poor layout, excessive miles for the start of the Tour.</p> Stage 3: This is a good Team Time Trial stage</p> Stage 4: See stage 2.</p> Stage 5: See stage 2.</p> Stage 6: Decent stage, has a nice flow as a flat stage though. Stages like this at this point in a long Tour are needed though.</p> Stage 7: What better then to have a speedy Time Trial into Indianapolis? A great idea.</p> Stage 8: Casey, Illinois? Why not a trip down Lake Shore Drive or through the southern suburbs where cycling thrives in the state? Fans will pile into the streets for that. St. Louis already is the ending location for the Tour of Missouri and isn't a bright spot considering what is being missed at this stage.</p> Stage 9: See stage 2. Nice start location, but again, Tour of Missouri.</p> Stage 10: Scenic route through the mountains is too long to cope with. The next stage brings even more disaster.</p> Stage 11: Great idea, poor execution. Too many miles on a mountain stage by far and away. Expect more then 75% of the riders to be dropped if not more. That you can easily bet your life savings on.</p> Stage 12: Great idea again, but why place this here alone between four mountain stages? Poor layout.</p> Stage 13: Good stage, too many miles for a mountain stage .. again. Dope dope dope.</p> Stage 14: The best stage by far and away. A mountain stage through the Grand Canyon. What a stage!</p> Stage 15: Good stage leading out of the mountains. Not too excessive and a great ending spot!</p> Stage 16: A Time Trial in Las Vegas? I'm 50/50 on that, especially considering the stage position.</p> Stage 17: Decent stage, not much after a lowly TT.</p> Stage 18: Lovely.</p> Stage 19: Good stage at this point.</p> Stage 20: Decent Time Trial, but should be more challenging considering that the final Time Trial often can decide an entire Tour.</p> Stage 21: Worst ending choice in any Tour, period. Bring on San Francisco or even Seattle!</p> </p> I'll put up my revamped version of this Tour sometime in the coming days.</p> </p>
http://thetourofamerica.com/ Apparently the first edition will take place in 2009, so we have a little time left to wait. I used to keep in contact with the Tour organizer, Frank Arokiasamy, and he let me know that they plan to change up the Tour every year so that every five years a major cycling-interested city or town will be a part of this. I can't believe it took this long for a reply! Come on guys!
Sorry the cycling forum isn't really on my radar. Perhaps I'll be back in 2009 when I see this again and think its a new thing I have never seen before and get really excited about it.
