The 2018 Edition of the North Star Grand Prix Bicycle Festival Has Been Cancelled

Brendon Hale Race Director North Star Grand Prix brendon@minnbikefestival.com

 Statement about the decision to cancel the 2018 North Star Grand Prix


 It is with deep regret that we are announcing the cancellation of the 2018 North Star Grand Prix. This event, part of USA Cycling’s prestigious Pro Road Tour, has brought elite and emerging cyclists from around the world to Minnesota. More than 250 of the best cyclists in North America, and thousands of fans, were expected to attend this year’s event. The five-day, six stage North Star Grand Prix was scheduled for June 13 – 17, 2018 in St. Paul, Cannon Falls, Minneapolis, North Mankato and Stillwater.

 Recent changes beyond our control forced our team to make this difficult decision. A key factor was solidifying course venues including a recent change of location for our St. Paul Criterium and the late notification of a complex road construction schedule in a part of Minneapolis that would have made it impossible to hold the Uptown Criterium, the most popular stage of the event.

Relocating the event at this late date was cost and resource prohibitive. The combination of timing, resource and fiscal factors make it impossible for our organization to produce the quality of event which our partners, fans and athletes expect. Our team of volunteers are using this as an opportunity to gather, re-evaluate, build and strengthen the North Star Grand Prix to come back bigger and better than ever in 2019. We would like to express our appreciation to all of our host communities, event partners, racers, volunteers and fans for their ongoing support.

 Sincerely, Minnesota Bicycle Festivals, Inc. North Star Grand Prix

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The problems of the North Star Grand Prix are of two kinds, both common to road cycling events. First, there are the usual challenges; sponsorships, municipal relations, enlisting volunteers, attracting competitors, dealing with USA Cycling and so on. Then there are other, sometimes unique issues; road construction, local opposition, dates, etc. This race was plagued with dilemmas of both varieties.

The reality is that road cycling, as a sporting event, has big problems. In the case of the Twin Cities, they are due to the nature of the sport and of the location.

First of all, cycling itself, in the US, is something of an athletic anomaly. Pro cycling teams don't have an allegiance to any particular locality. For instance, the Rally Cycling Team, one of the most successful in the country, is based in Minneapolis but sponsored by Rally Health, a company that's headquartered in San Francisco with offices across the country. Cycling teams are made up of athletes from all over the world and their names are known to only the most dedicated of fans. In Italy and Belgium pro cyclists are nationally famous. Not so in the US.

Unlike other professional sports, that have "seasons" that constitute a narrative, a story than can be followed over time, a road cycling race is, for most, less a sporting event than a spectacle. The majority of spectators don't know the standings of the competitors in the national series and, in fact, can't identify the competitors during the races. The sport, for all its drama, is opaque to the ordinary viewer. A spectacle cannot become a sport unless the fans are able to access pertinent information; why one rider won and another lost. Sports now are also a fountain of statistics. There aren't many in cycling.

There are remedies to these problems. Professional sports teams heavily promote their stars. The Minnesota Twins, as a team, is something of an abstraction. But local favorite Joe Maurer is a star, the current symbol of the team and used as such.

 In the case of the North Star Bicycle Festival, promotion of the appearance of cycling stars should be a year-long effort. Local girl Kelly Catlin is two-time world track cycling champion, super-tough road competitor, Rally team member and University of Minnesota student. Very few even know she exists. Rally rider Emma White is a genuine star in the US women's peloton but anonymous outside the sport. These healthy, attractive, articulate women should be part of an on-going public relations exercise. They should be on television when they're not racing. They should make appearances at businesses and openings. They should throw out the first pitch at Twins games and meet and greet people at sporting goods stores.

Part of the North Star Bicycle Festival promotion effort should also be to expand its internet presence by tracking the performances of riders that are expected to compete in their races and show why attention should be given to them. Not to focus too much on the Rally team, although it seems like a good idea, team rider Rob Britton is currently fourth in the standings in the US Pro Road Tour with 157 points, two behind the third place man.

Some of the other issues that are affecting the North Star Bicycle Festival are related to the Twin City area itself. Always regarded as a "small market" location in regard to professional sports, in fact the Minneapolis-St.Paul metropolitan area is the 14th largest economic center in the country. It's not small at all. It has teams in five major league sports, the athletic programs of a Big Ten university, many hockey  teams at all levels, horse racing, and more. Road cycling, unlike any of these other endeavors, charges nothing for tickets. But it generally doesn't supply seating, either. Local businesses might be expected to increase sales during an event, particularly bars and restaurants, but that remains to be proven. And, once again, the lack of a "home team" and minimal public knowledge of the riders, makes the event more of a spectacle than a sport.

Some of the more successful races in the country seem to be staged in towns that are much smaller than the Twin Cities. The races in Tulsa, OK are a major local event. Fayetteville, AR, Silver City, NM and Rochester, NY probably have issues common to every bike race but have become local fixtures. Maybe the Twin Cities is just not the right location for a road race. Perhaps Rochester, St. Cloud or Duluth would receive a more enthusiastic reception from locals with less access to big league sports 

We certainly hope that the North Star Bicycle Festival returns in 2019 in the great form it once displayed. The people behind it are working very hard to make it so.