{"id":41779,"date":"2022-03-08T21:57:10","date_gmt":"2022-03-09T04:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-classic-throws-hail-mary-for-a-sponsor-as-pro-bike-racing-falters-in-the-u-s\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:03:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:03:14","slug":"colorado-classic-throws-hail-mary-for-a-sponsor-as-pro-bike-racing-falters-in-the-u-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-classic-throws-hail-mary-for-a-sponsor-as-pro-bike-racing-falters-in-the-u-s\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado Classic throws \u2018Hail Mary\u2019 for a sponsor as pro bike racing falters in the U.S."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Fans
Fans cheer on cyclists at the finish line during Stage 1 of the 2019 Colorado Classic in Steamboat Springs. (Matt Stensland\/ Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The investors behind the Colorado Classic women\u2019s bike racing are throwing a Hail Mary.<\/p>\n

Unless a title sponsor steps up with $3 million \u2013 and a willingness to maybe not see a return on that investment for the next year or two \u2013 the Western Hemisphere\u2019s highest profile women\u2019s professional bike race will go away.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there is a Fortune 500 type company out there \u2014 like a big financial institution \u2014 that can see this race as a proven diversity, equity and inclusion platform and they can see what\u2019s happened with women\u2019s soccer and women\u2019s tennis and they want to do the same with women\u2019s cycling,\u201d said Ken Gart, the Colorado entrepreneur and investor who helped create the Colorado Classic bike race in 2017 and convert it to an all-women\u2019s race in 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo yes, it\u2019s a Hail Mary. It\u2019s totally a build-it-and-they-will-come scenario,\u201d Gart said. \u201cWe need someone who will believe in this mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gart\u2019s RPM Events Group launched the annual Colorado Classic in 2017 with a men\u2019s and women\u2019s bike race and music festival in downtown Denver. In 2019, they canceled the music and switched over to women\u2019s racing, with the new-to-Colorado VF Corp. signed on as title sponsor and start-to-finish livestreaming replacing a pricey television network contract.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Classic replaced the USA Pro Challenge, which had spent five years vying to revive professional bike racing in Colorado. The owners of Colorado\u2019s USA Pro Challenge folded the race in 2017, saying they had lost $20 million after five years without a title sponsor.<\/p>\n

The U.S. racing industry has a flat tire<\/div>\n

If the Colorado Classic folds, it will be the third high-profile professional bike race in the U.S. to close since 2019.<\/p>\n

Anschutz Entertainment Group suspended its 2020 Tour of California bike race in the fall of 2019. AEG, which is owned by Colorado billionaire Phil Anschutz, launched the race in 2006 with title sponsor Amgen, a biopharmaceutical company that, incidentally, makes Epogen, a drug used to treat cancer patients that also boosts athletic performance and has haunted cycling for decades. A statement from AEG at the time said \u201cthe business fundamentals\u201d of the men\u2019s and women\u2019s race had changed.<\/p>\n

In December, the organizers of the Tour of Utah canceled the race for 2022. The pandemic suspended the Tour of Utah in 2020 and 2021. The race, which drew hundreds of the world\u2019s top cyclists for seven stages of UCI professional racing, was created in 2004 and purchased by the Utah-based Larry H. Miller Group of Companies car dealerships in 2007. The weeklong race included noncompetitive public rides that attracted thousands of participants.<\/p>\n

Medalist Sports, the sports management company that hosted Colorado\u2019s USA Pro Challenge and took over the Tour of Utah last year, said the event had the support of sponsors and Utah communities. But that was \u201cnot strong enough to support a viable effort to meet our collective expectations,\u201d Medalist Sports owner Chris Aronhalt said in a statement announcing the cancellation of the 2022 race. (No major bike race has skipped three years and come back, so it\u2019s likely the Utah race is dead.)<\/p>\n

\"Cyclists
Cyclists cross the Denver finish line in the Colorado Classic in 2019, the first year the race featured only women athletes. (Provided by Colorado Classic)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The USA Pro Challenge, the Tour of California and the Tour of Utah join an ever-growing graveyard of American pro cycling races. Colorado\u2019s Red Zinger Bicycle Classic and Coors Classic are in that cemetery, alongside the Tour DuPont, Tour de Georgia and Tour of Missouri.<\/p>\n

There is one international-level UCI race left in the U.S., and it hasn\u2019t even run yet. The inaugural Maryland Cycling Classic, sponsored by UnitedHealthcare and managed by Medalist Sports, was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID restrictions and is now scheduled for Sept. 5. The Maryland Cycling Classic is the only one-day race in the U.S. that is part of the UCI Pro Series, making it the highest-status race in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo doubt the past few years have been a bit transformative regarding the popularity of road cycling \u2026 and hopefully there will be a new chapter soon, as the beauty of the sport deserves it,\u201d Aronhalt said in an email to The Colorado Sun<\/em>. \u201cDespite two years of pandemic interruptions, we remain committed to being the highest ranked UCI event in the U.S., and fortunate to have UnitedHealthcare as our presenting partner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those title sponsors are key. The Tour of California lasted 14 years thanks to Amgen and Lexus. The Tour of Utah lasted even longer thanks to the Larry Miller car dealerships. But it\u2019s not just about funding, said Kristin Klein, a former president of the Amgen Tour of California and executive vice president of AEG who now is working with Gart as a consultant.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmgen didn\u2019t sell bikes,\u201d Klein said \u201cBut they knew the race was helping them promote overall health and wellness and they were utilizing cycling as a vehicle to really promote living a healthy lifestyle. The Colorado Classic offers that same opportunity for a sponsor who wants to help create an equitable platform for both men and women.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gart has spent the past year trying to find a replacement for VF Corp., which gave the Colorado Classic $1 million for two years of races, but organizers were only able to host one race before the pandemic canceled everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, we have a \u2018blue sky\u2019 moment, and with the right partner, we can create something that makes a real and lasting impact on women\u2019s cycling,\u201d Gart wrote in a letter that went to race supporters Tuesday morning. \u201cThe Colorado Classic is a game-changer, and without this event, the opportunities for female cyclists, both current and upcoming, are significantly reduced.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steve Maxwell, a Boulder journalist and consultant who has spent years researching America\u2019s struggling pro cycling business model, said there is huge international interest in sports right now. Private equity giants are spending billions on Formula One racing, rugby teams, Indian cricket franchises and soccer leagues.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere seems to be a vast flow of capital into sports,\u201d Maxwell said. \u201cAnd underrepresented and underutilized women\u2019s sports have a much smaller price of entry.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it is difficult to pitch women\u2019s sports to investors. It\u2019s \u201cthe chicken or the egg thing,\u201d Maxwell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone agrees it is just as exciting to watch as men\u2019s sports but it is difficult to find on television,\u201d Maxwell said. \u201cYou can\u2019t really build interest in a sport if there\u2019s no way to watch it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Compelling stories<\/div>\n

The Colorado Classic was the only Olympic-qualifying women\u2019s cycling race in the Western Hemisphere. The stories that come out of women\u2019s racing are compelling, with moms, scientists, teachers and corporate executives pedaling in the peloton. The women\u2019s Olympic gold medal cycling champion, for example, has a Ph. D. in mathematics. Most of the top women have jobs and lives off the bike, unlike the men who have spent most of their lives pedaling.<\/p>\n

And the races were more exciting, with smaller pelotons on shorter courses, which led to unpredictable breakaways and dynamic sprints crowning winners.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe U.S. domestic racing scene right now is really, really strong and we\u2019re showcasing women who have careers, have full educations, have come back to racing after starting families,\u201d said Cari Higgins, a Boulder real estate broker who left a corporate career in medical sales to become a 19-time U.S. Elite National Champion road cycling racer. \u201cSo it\u2019s easy for fans to get behind these women. And it should be easy for a sponsor to see the value in supporting these women.\u201d<\/p>\n

If women\u2019s cycling could get narrative-style television documentaries showing the stories of women in professional cycling, that could spark the interest that would lure investors, Maxwell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a way you can start from scratch with women\u2019s cycling without all the faults and institutional barriers of men\u2019s cycling and you can do it for a fraction of the price,\u201d Maxwell said. \u201cIf anyone is able to come in and invest in women\u2019s professional sports right now I think the payoff down the road could be pretty big.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more at The Colorado Sun<\/div>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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