A pro stage race for men in Colorado may return to the US calendar in 2026, thanks to a British company. Infinity Events Group, based in the UK, revealed in a press release Monday their "intentions to organise" and relaunch a men's five-day pro race in September next season.
It has been six years since the Colorado Classic crowned Chloé Dygert as the overall champion of a four-stage women's UCI 2.1 pro race in 2019. A pro men's Colorado Classic was held as a 2.HC UCI event in 2017 and 2018, Gavin Mannion taking the GC title in that final edition. From 2011 to 2015 the men's race in Colorado was held as the USA Pro Challenge.
Scott Taylor, the managing director for Infinity Events Group, has high aspirations to re-launch a multi-day road race in the challenging, high-elevation terrain of Colorado next year, saying they were "pleased to be developing the new Tour of Colorado stage race". Details of the race, such as the date, host cities and even the official name of the event, are still in the planning process, as an application must be submitted to the UCI later this summer for inscription as a 2026 event.
The announcement on Monday by Infinity Events Group, which referred to a 'Tour of Colorado' was to ignite grassroots support for the event and secure sponsorships, in advance of a UCI-inscription, Taylor said.
"We needed to say something because we want to trigger some conversations and start raising [funds] and see how we're going to do it," he told Cyclingnews.
"We were in touch the second half of last year with USA Cycling. I submitted a proposal and they said you've go to make it all work, financially and everything else, and we will support you in the application to the UCI. And then the key bit was having the governor of Colorado on our side."
The title for the new race will likely be modified, as 'Tour of Colorado' is a US registered trade name still owned by Sand Creek Sports, Inc., based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. That multi-day series of road races has not been held in over a decade, however, the name is not freely available.
While Taylor was coy about his targets for the intended UCI inscription level, whether plans included races for men and women, and other details of the application process, he said "if we do make an application" the ideal calendar position was wedging the race between established September road races in North America.
"I think September works quite well in terms of fitting with Maryland Cycling Classic and the WorldTour races in Canada," Taylor said.
The Maryland Cycling Classic has been held as a UCI 1.Pro race in early September twice before, 2022 and 2023, and is slotted to return on September 6 as a men's 1.Pro event, and launch a women's 1.1 race the same day. Next year organisers looked to have the one-day race similarly placed a week or two prior to the one-day WorldTour races in Canada, Grand Prix Cycliste Québec and Grand Prix Cycliste Montréal, leading to the UCI Road World Championships in Montréal from September 19-27.
"The sense of timing is right. We're excited that there are companies out there trying to put the pieces together to make it happen. We appreciate how difficult it is, and we want to be supportive in any way we can," Brendan Quirk, CEO and president of USA Cycling, told Cyclingnews.
"Colorado is just deeply connected with American bike racing in every way shape and form. If there's any place in America that should have a race like this, it's the state of Colorado,"
Why would a company based in the United Kingdom want to organise a race in the United States? Taylor recognised that the domestic road racing scene was in decline in both countries, and admitted that he has never attended a race in the US and came up with the idea by doing online research, including watching YouTube videos of the former Tour of California.
"You know, we see in Britain, as you have in America, a decline in racing, not just at elite level, but grassroots as well. It felt at the moment to get another stage race here, either a Women's WorldTour race or a men's ProSeries race, wouldn't work at the moment," Taylor said.
"But I saw in America a huge country, knew about the Tour of California and the Coors Classic. Initially I sent an email to USA Cycling out of the blue, they must have thought what is going on with this crazy British person. After an initial meeting online I thought, wow, Colorado with the scenery, the climbs, this could really present something."
Infinity Events Group itself has only been around since 2021, with four people on the current staff who have had experience with the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, World Championships and other international cycling events. For a Colorado Classic, he said he would lean into a vast support network in the US.
"I think that the board experience comes together quite nicely to make this happen. And it's not necessarily about the staff. We're not bringing the whole team from Britain into the states to do it. It would be a small core team from here and the vast majority will be put together from the United States. At the moment, we're ready to firm things up."
Currently the only UCI 2.Pro race on the calendar is the Maryland Cycling Classic in September. The Tour of the Gila, April 23-27, is the only 2.2 stage race this year while Gran Premio New York City is a 2.1 event on May 18.
