Bike race takes to local roads this weekend

August 31, 2023  |  By Waterbury Roundabout

The Green Mountain Stage Race will be held Friday-Monday this weekend with multiple events from the Mad River Valley to Randolph to Burlington. 

On Sunday, part of the route will have racers passing through Duxbury on River Road and the event will also close the App Gap along Vermont Route 17.

Racers will approach Duxbury headed north on Vermont Route 100 where they will turn onto Main Street and continue down River Road past the Winooski Street bridge to Waterbury, through Bolton, all the way to Richmond. 

Duxbury officials say they expect the first group of cyclists 9 a.m. and the last group around 11 a.m. with all bikers through town by 11:30 a.m. 

The Duxbury Select Board in giving approval for the race to use town roads reminds the public that Main Street/River Road will not be closed for this event and for motorists to use caution.

The finish for Sunday’s stage is at the summit of the Appalachian Gap on Rt. 17. The Vermont Agency of Transportation put out an alert that the App Gap will be closed between 10:45 a.m. until 2:45 p.m. on Sunday and the area is from 300 meters below the summit at Buel’s Gore on the east side to just east of the turn to Gore Road on the west side.

The Green Mountain Stage Race is billed as the “largest pro/am road stage race in North America” on the race website where it notes some 720 cyclists are taking part this year. Stages include courses in the Mad River Valley, Randolph and Burlington. 

The race includes flaggers traveling with cyclists to assist at intersections, police escorts for cycling groups and race officials in vehicles traveling with the race groups. Each day’s race map is listed in the race tech guide online at gmsr.info