The Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), owner of the Tour de France, Paris-Nice, Paris-Roubaix, the Tour of Qatar, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and other cycling landmarks, announced today The Tour d'Amateur, the first ever stage race exclusively for amateurs, organized in Grand Tour style.
In order to accommodate the working schedules of most amateur races, The Tour d'Amateur will run on a different schedule than professional grand tours. Instead of three weeks of consecutive racing, L'Amateur will run for six consecutive weekends with Saturday and Sunday events only. Three of the six weekends will contain three stages each, with the remaining three weekends hosting two stages each, for a total of 15 stages over 6 weeks.
The stages will be a mix of road races, criteriums and time trials. Results will be time-based instead of an omnium (placing) format, and time bonuses will figure heavily, particularly in the criterium stages.
"We know that so much of amateur racing is modeled after how the pros do it, so we wanted to create a race for amateurs in the pro style," said ASO President Jean-Etienne Amaury. "Le Tour d'Amateur will have the same excitement and atmosphere of Le Tour, differing only in that it will be slightly less pro."
Some of the "less pro" differences elements of Le Tour d'Amateur include:
- Modified race caravan: because the race will hold multiple events on the same course, the Caravan will run in between various events. Like the Grand Tours, caravan participants will be sponsors. However for L'Amateur, ASO is working with local sponsors in each venue. Expect to see pizza delivery cars, UPS trucks, airport shuttles, landscapers and other businesses that already own vehicles containing their company name and logo.
- More modest prizes: In homage to the very first Tour de France, where the prize money was 20,000 francs, the total purse for Le Tour d'Amateur will be set at the same level, or about $136,000 US. Despite only matching the 1903 Tour purse, L'Amateur will nevertheless be the richest amateur race in the country.
- Race Day schedules: Because multiple categories will be run, events will kick off at 7am most days, instead of the more civilized 10:30ish roll-outs of pro events. Some days with multiple stages will finish after dark, racing under the lights (where available).
- Leaders jerseys: As in other ASO stage races, leader in each category will be awarded jerseys for the Overall (yellow), KOM (red dots), Points (green) and Young Rider (white) competitions. However, recognizing that much of the amateur racing population is older than the professional racing population, ASO has added a Mature Rider (gray jersey) competition, awarded to the best-placed 40+ racer on GC in each category.
The Tour d'Amateur will hold competitions in the following distinct categories:
Men's Cat 1
Women's Cat 1
Men's Cat 2
Women's Cat 2
Men's Cat 3
Women's Cat 3
Men's Cat 4
There will be no age-graded categories. Also omitted are the Women's Cat 4 and Men's Cat 5 beginner categories. ("They are too amateur even for Le Tour d'Amateur," Amaury is rumored to have remarked in a planning session.)
The 2009 event will run on consecutive weekends from August 1 through September 6. August was selected specifically because it is the month where amateur racers are most likely to take vacations, or at least not expected to be very productive at work. Exact venues are still to be determined, but the ASO has released the preliminary event schedule:
- Both will be held on the same course. The prologue will be a "Hot Lap" around the 2.5 mile course.
Sunday 8/2: Road Race
Saturday 8/3: Road Race
Sunday 8/4: Time Trial
Saturday 8/10: Criterium
Sunday 8/11: Criterium (AM), Criterium (PM)
- The PM crit will run on the same course as the AM crit, but in the opposite direction
Saturday 8/17: Road Race
Sunday 8/18: Road Race
Saturday 8/25: Time Trial
Sunday 8/26: Criterium
Saturday 9/5: Road Race
Sunday 9/6: Criterium
Monday 9/7 (Labor Day): Criterium
A final event schedule with venues, as well as pre-registration information are expected from the ASO by the end of the month.
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april fools suckass!
Posted by: Robb | April 01, 2009 at 10:20 AM
And did you hear Armstrong is having surgery to perfect his aero position? (third article)
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2009/apr09/apr01newsspecial
Posted by: Bert Garcia | April 01, 2009 at 10:22 AM
Haha! Nice one, Mike.
Posted by: PokeTheBear | April 01, 2009 at 10:35 AM
yeah, and there will be a circuit race @ haines, and a prologue through Beach Drive.
Posted by: Pete | April 01, 2009 at 10:41 AM
What about the Maillot d'Florid? A peacock-motif jersey warded to the amateur rider with the most bling, carbon, aero components ... and no form.
(P.S. I'm already working on the latter, so don't even try to compete.)
Posted by: Kup | April 01, 2009 at 11:14 AM
More droppage added daily at
http://yougotdropped.blogspot.com/
Posted by: DrOPPED | April 01, 2009 at 11:21 AM
Sometimes the grandest ideas are dismissed initially as jokes.
Posted by: Mike May | April 02, 2009 at 05:14 PM