Exergy Tour will bring the top women to Idaho

Exergy Development Group announced plans Thursday to introduce the Exergy Tour, a women’s pro tour, which will take place in Idaho next year.

The tour is scheduled for May 24-28, 2012, and will take strides toward equalizing the gender inequality often criticized in the sport.

USA Cycling President & CEO Steve Johnson is pleased to present a world class tour that showcases the American women’s talent. “This event will provide our top American women, who are among the best in the world, with the opportunity to showcase their talent and race on home soil,” said Johnson. The Exergy Tour has a 2.1 UCI designation, the only women’s race to boast that fact in North America, and is sanctioned by USA Cycling.

The Exergy Tour will also be one of the last events in which riders with their sights on the 2012 London Olympics can obtain points for their international ranking. The organizers expect that fact to draw in many of the word’s best women cyclists.

Exergy Development Group in one of the top innovators in renewable energy, and has also shown an ongoing commitment to women’s cycling. “The Exergy Tour shall showcase the power and excitement of women’s professional cycling and its growing influence globally, while working at all levels to engage our communities in teaching young girls the benefits that individual and team sports competition can bring throughout their lives,” said James Carkulis, CEO, Exergy Development Group.

Johnson thanked the company Thursday, saying, “thanks to the support of Exergy we now have, for the first time in many years, a world-­class, UCI women’s stage race in the U.S.”

The inaugural race will be five stages, but organizers hope the number of stages will quickly grow to seven, providing it is a success. Stages are planned primarily in the Treasure Valley area, near Idaho’s capitol, and should include alpine stages as well as high desert and sprint stages. Host city locations will be announced in early 2012. For more information, visit http://www.exergytour.com/

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