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Bicycle races come to Walworth County

LAKE GENEVA — Hundreds of professional and amateur cyclists will race through downtown Lake Geneva on Wednesday and thousands of spectators are expected to line the streets to watch as riders duke it out for a chance to wear the yellow jersey and stand atop the podium.

The Point Premium Root Beer International Cycling Classic/Superweek Pro Tour is making a stop in Lake Geneva.

Michael Garrison, marketing director for Breakaway Event Productions, which is putting on the event, said the exciting world of competitive cycling is going to thrill people.

“Everyone is going to have goose bumps,” he said. “They’re going to see a war waged on bicycles. They’re going to see speed. They’re going to see crashes and pileups.”

The International Cycling Classic is the largest and longest-running multi-category cycling race in the world. The tour is two weeks of races from Chicago to Milwaukee and attracts cyclists from across the country and around the world. The annual event is considered world-class among sponsors, cyclists and spectators.

Lake Geneva is playing host to the tour for the first time in almost 30 years.

Frank Dobbs, organizer of the annual triathlon and marathon events in the area, said the lakeside city is an ideal setting for a cycling race.

“It’s like a piece of the Tour de France is coming to town,” he said. “We don’t have the Champs-Élysées, but we do have a beautiful lake and downtown.”

Garrison said event organizers for years have wanted to bring a race to the city, and riders for years have asked to race in the city.

“It’s an unbelievably beautiful area,” he said.

The Lake Geneva race officially is titled the Keefe Real Estate Lake Geneva Criterium presented by Simple Café and the Geneva Lakes YMCA.

Criteriums are held on short courses, usually less than a mile long, and riders race dozens of laps to cover the total race distance.

The Lake Geneva course is eight-tenths of a mile. It heads north on Center Street, east on Main Street, south on Lakeshore Drive and west on Baker Street. Riders will zip along Geneva Lake, past Flat Iron Park and down Main Street. Spectators can line the barriers along the entire course.

Garrison said competitive cycling is similar to stock-car racing.

Riders are fast. Professionals zip through the course at about 30 mph and spectators can feel a whoosh of air as they pass. Riders jostle for position and sometimes crash in pileups.

“They’re waging a war on bicycles,” Garrison said.

Athletes competing in the two-week tour come from professional and amateur cycling teams from the United States and many foreign countries, especially those in Europe.

Amateur cyclists are classified by a category system ranging from elite to beginner. Professional men and amateurs in Categories 1 and 2 race together in the highlight race, referred to as the Pro/1/2 race. Amateurs in Category 3 have their own race, and amateurs in Categories 4 and 5 race together. Women, juniors and masters also race in separate events.

Dobbs said the races are a spectacle.

“It’s very exciting,” he said. “People will be impressed by the tactics, the speed, the colors—everything about ’em.”

Garrison said event organizers are glad to bring the International Cycling Classic to Lake Geneva.

“The residual benefits will be huge for the city,” he said. “Riders from all over the country and all over the world will see Lake Geneva for the first time … and they are going to tell people they know to take a vacation there, or they are going to convince their family to come back there.

“Businesses and hotels and restaurants need that these days.”