Back in 2007 at Interbike, Aqu Sports CEO Frank Arokiasamy announced that he would put on a Tour of America bike race in 2008. He claimed the race would have 30+ stages and would run for over a month. Almost two years later, there is still very little tangible evidence that a race will happen at all. Arokiasamy and his team have already shortened the length of the race, perhaps realizing that putting on a three week event will be hard enough.
Whether the race will ever happen is still very much up in the air. Aqu Sports obviously have some money to throw around, but organizing a cross-country event takes more than cash. You need excellent event planners, an entire team of operations employees, and individual city buy in. Just because you want your race to go through Chicago doesn't mean that Chicago wants your race too.
And what about the schedule? Where would you fit an event as long as a grand tour in the International calendar? Most months seem filled up, with very little room for additional events, let alone events that are three weeks long. With the pending tightening of many cycling teams due to budget cuts and scandals, it would make it very hard for any team to have roster strength for FOUR grand tours. As it is, some smaller teams aren't even able to ride three grand tours.
One thing the proposed Tour of America would have in its favor, were it to happen, is prize money. The organizers are setting an outrageous sum of $1,000,000 for the first place finisher overall. There are six other catagories on offer for big money, including a new jersey classification, the blue jersey. The ToA Website describes the blue jersey competition as:
This is a new category added to the Tour of America. While the yellow jersey wearer is the overall leader of the Tour in terms of time, the wearer of the blue jersey is the leader of the Tour in terms of his everyday placing at the end of each stage. Therefore, his accumulated position on each stage will be added and the cyclist who has the lowest point total shall be the wearer of the blue jersey. While traditionally cyclists who finish in a group are awarded the same time of finish, they will have a different point total depending on where they finish.
While organizers still have a LONG way to go, the Tour of America would be an amazing race to have on the International calendar. Right now it looks like 2009 would be a bit ambitious, but perhaps we'll have a ToA by 2010.
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1 comment:
I think Frank was a bit over-ambitious (and under educated) with his grand pronouncement for the ToA. One week tours look to be doing very well here in the U.S.
Maybe the key is to have a mid-length tour. Maybe a 10-12 day event in early June as a Tour tune-up? Lengthen the existing American stage races (Cali, Georgia, Missouri)? ToC has already gone to 9 days for next year.
If Aqu wants to have a true American Grand Tour, maybe they should take on the Vuelta. It's already the red-headed stepchild of the Grand Tours. Put ToA on in September.
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