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It’s like scoring a backstage pass to a Rolling Stones concert, “and having Mick let you sing into his microphone.”

On Friday morning, Garth Rowan wouldn’t be anywhere in the world but the parking lot of the Delta Hotels Kananaskis Lodge. It’s not a typical spot for making dreams come true, but for a diehard cycling fan, it’s pure nirvana.

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“You can touch their bikes, chat with them even,” says Rowan, who’s come out with his wife, Michele Allaire-Rowan, to rub shoulders with some of the superstars of the professional cycling world.

“I grew up watching the Tour de France,” says Allaire-Rowan, a native of France’s Bordeaux region. “We parked right beside the Cannondale truck today. If we were in Europe, we couldn’t get within five miles of this place.”

The couple woke up early to be among the first to cheer on the competitors of Stage 2 of the fourth annual Tour of Alberta (TourofAlberta.ca). The riders began in the mountains of Kananaskis Country before ending 182 kilometres later on the prairies in Olds. It’s one of five stages on the tour, which ends in Edmonton Sept. 5.