Tour of Alberta 2014

Organizers of the 2014 Tour of Alberta announced the provisional roster for the six-day race that starts in Calgary on September 2 and finishes in Edmonton on September 7. Five WorldTour teams will be on the start line but the race will be lacking its defending champion Rohan Dennis, who made a mid-season switch from Garmin-Sharp to BMC, and will be racing at the Vuelta a España instead.

The second edition of the race is expected to be flat, fast and riddled with crosswinds, and the parcours might better-suit some of the sprinters and more robust riders. Garmin-Sharp will still be looking to defend its title with riders like Ramanas Navardauskas and Tom-Jelte Slagter, says Tom Danielson, winner of the recent Tour of Utah.

“Our Garmin-Sharp team is loaded with talent and we’re looking forward to defending our title from last year,” said Danielson. “The Tour of Alberta fits a couple of our guys real nice like Ramunas and Slagter. I look forward to supporting those guys. Both are super talented. I’ve heard great things about Alberta, the race, and the fans up there, so, I’m pretty pumped.”