April 2/08 11:29 am - Tour of America Postponed ... Again

Posted by Editor on 04/2/08
 

Tour of America Postponed ... Again

No this is not an Apriol Fools story, the Tour of America has been postponed once more, to 2009. If you recall, this was the event which was going to cross the U.S. in some 30 days, with individual stages up to 400 kilometres in length. After that was cut down, the organizers announced that it would run in the Fall of this year. Now, it has been pushed back again:

Aqu, Inc., organizers of The Tour of America, a multi-stage coast-to-coast professional bicycle road race, announced rescheduling of the inaugural race until September 2009.

Since the original announcement of the Tour of America in September 2007, Aqu executives and staff members have met with cities along the proposed route, potential sponsors and race teams, as well as staff members of USA Cycling and the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the sport"s governing bodies.

"After we announced the Tour of America last fall, we hit the ground running to make the event happen in 2008," said Frank Arokiasamy, Aqu's president and director of the Tour of America. "Everyone we have spoken with wants to see a 'Tour de France-style' race here in the United States.

We want to work with USA Cycling and UCI to establish this event as a complement to the major international races, and at the same time not conflict with established races in the United States. Overall, we want to make sure the Tour of America strengthens the sport of cycling and the race calendar. In addition, potential sponsors and route cities have expressed strong support for a fall 2009 race."

Exact dates for the fall 2009 edition of the Tour of America have not been finalized. Tour of America staff are currently finalizing route details, sponsorship agreements and proposed dates to comply with USA Cycling's race application process. Once the application is submitted, USA Cycling will review it and submit the 2009 Tour of America's dates, along with all of the races on the national calendar, to the UCI for approval.