(Photos © Jonathan Maus)
Event organizers with the Mount Hood Cycling Classic stage race, one of the premier professional road races on the West Coast, say the first two stages could be coming to Portland.
Race director Brad Ross, the man behind the Cross Crusade and the Twilight Criterium, told me today that he’s “95% sure” that the first two days of the six-day race will start in Portland.
The event was founded by Dalles resident and race promoter Chad Sperry and has taken place in and around the city of Hood River for the past four years. Sperry hired Ross to add a Portland stop to the race and Ross has been pitching his plans in meetings with various stakeholders and agencies over the past few weeks.
Brad Ross.
Ross still has a few sign-offs to gather (including TriMet), but most of the route planning is complete and he is confident that the plans will become a reality.
The first stage will be a prologue, 1.5 mile individual time trial along Naito Parkway and Waterfront Park. In this stage, racers will go against the clock to determine their starting order for subsequent stages.
Ross says the second stage will be a circuit race that will climb from Washington Park up to Skyline Road and then back through roads around the Oregon Zoo. Racers will do multiple laps of the seven mile course.
According to Ross, all the major, US-based professional teams (Toyota, HealthNet, etc…) have already committed to compete in the race.
The event is scheduled to take place May 13-18th. For more information check out MtHoodCyclingClassic.com.