Seven time Tour de France winner and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong calls it the start of “something special.” He and Governor Ritter announced Wednesday that Colorado would host a seven day stage race next August called the Quiznos Pro Challenge. It’s really the reincarnation of a legendary race that happened more than 20 years ago in Colorado called the Coors Classic. It was at one point the fourth largest pro cycling race in the world and well poised to become America’s own Tour de France. By the time the race ended in 1988, the Coors Classic had helped launch the careers of U.S. cycling greats such as Greg Lemond and Boulder resident Davis Phinney. The Classic was also an event that pro cyclist Dale Stetina never missed. Stetina who lives in Boulder did his first Coors Classic when he was just 17. He won the race in 1979 and 1983. We caught up with Dale Stetina at his Boulder home and asked him what the hardest stage of the Coors Classic was.
