A bike race that will be coming through Cochrane on September 2, will see a temporary closure of Highway 1A and Highway 22.

The Tour of Alberta is an invitational only, professional cycling event seeing riders who just competed in Rio and Tour de France, which took place 6 weeks ago.

104 cyclists will take part in the event, which is televised around the world. Viewership numbers are huge overseas in Europe, Australia, and Asia.

Jeff Corbett, VP of Technical Operations, said while he understands the frustration motorists may have, he is hoping the majority of community members will support and cheer riders on.

"We've had a number of folks in Cochrane already trying to spread the word and generate support. There has been a group that is trying to recruit fans to come out to the big hill and wanted everybody in the crowd to wear cowboy hats and give a big 'Cochrane welcome.'"

Riders are expected in town anywhere from 2:10p.m. until 2:30p.m., impacting traffic north and south on Highway 22 briefly, with the major impact being east and west on Highway 1A.

"We are going to be traveling on 1A headed west to east, so 1A will be the largest impact. We move through pretty fast so it's not going to be traffic Armageddon.  22 north and south where it crosses 1A will only be stopped while the race is actually coming through. Our race caravan package coming through town tip to tail is about 10 minutes long. North and south 22 can probably expect a closure of about 15 minutes. 1A east of 22 we'll have to close it a little bit early to let some traffic bleed off from Glen Eagles down to 22, so that closure will probably be more like 20-25 minutes. The larger impact will be 1A west of town, we'll have to stop the flow of traffic west early enough so that traffic can bleed off. So traffic headed west should expect a closure of about 45 minutes."

Traffic is allowed to flow behind the race, but Corbett suggests if you can detour, do so.

A map will be made available at the Alberta Transportation website later this week.