- See Page 2 for a schedule of Tour of California events in Santa Rosa.
What: California's answer to the quest to bring a Grand Tour to North America in the professional racing circuit. Some consider the Tour of California to be similar to the Tour de France, and others of Europe’s Grand Tours, in the way it has shaped the image of cycling in the United States both through direct exposure and the media. The Tour of California is a professional cycling stage race that lasts 8 days and covers over 700 miles of California's diverse, challenging, and picturesque landscapes. The event debuted in 2006 and has since set shattering records in the number of spectators that crowd the streets of its host cities. It is best-attended cycling event ever held in the United States.
Where: The 2009 Tour runs from Sacramento to Escondido. Spectators can see the riders anywhere along the route. But, most of the organized festivities take place at the start and finish at the host cities, with the finishes being the most exciting. These cities include: Sacramento, Davis, Santa Rosa, Sausalito, Santa Cruz, San Jose, Modesto, Merced, Clovis, Visalia, Paso Robles, Solvang, Santa Clarita, Pasadena, Rancho Bernardo, and Escondido.
The Local Route: The riders will come into Santa Rosa from Calistoga Road and turn right onto Badger Rd. They'll pass Rincon Valley Park and Rincon Valley Middle School, and then turn left onto Brush Creek Rd. and then right onto Fourth Street. Soon, they will pass the mini-celebration taking place at the Safeway/Longs Drugs shopping center at Farmer's and Fourth, in front of the Flamingo Hotel. The downtown circuit starts at Brookwood and Fourth. See map(pdf file).
Parking: Additional parking for the event will be available at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. Rosie the Trolley will carry spectators from there to downtown and back.
Overview of The Tour in Santa Rosa: Santa Rosa has earned the reputation as having the most enthusiastic crowds along the route. Much of this can be attributed to the fact that, along with the Peanuts characters, Luther Burbank, good food and wine, and youth soccer, Santa Rosa is strongly associated with cycling. And the city boasts a large and very passionate cycling community. According to the Amgen Tour of California website: "Santa Rosa has been heralded by Bicycle magazine as 'one of the top ten cycling destinations in the world' right up there on the list with Tuscany." Another reason for all the excitement in the city during the race is that professional cyclist Levi Leipheimer, who in 2008 won the overall event for the second year in a row is a resident of Santa Rosa. So, of course, many locals come out to watch their hometown hero lead the charge through the city's gates. The main festivities take place around Courthouse Square, and starting this year, also at Railroad Square. 11:30am
The prestige of hosting a tour finish carries with it a hefty price tag approaching the $200k mark. And coughing up the cash for an event like this can be a challenge for any city. Fundraising efforts are made throughout the year, after bidding cities win the right to host a stage.
In 2008, shortly before the tour came to town, the city of Santa Rosa was still scrambling to cover the unaccounted for costs still owed to the Tour's organizing committee. What happened next changed history.
By the time the Tour of California arrived in Santa Rosa, the local Press Democrat newspaper and Santa Rosa's own Bike Monkey Magazine were reporting a state of jeopardy: The Tour stood to be eliminated from the City's plans for 2009 due to the shortfall of funding for the 2008 event. There was a huge outcry and a flurry of involvement, and, soon enough, the private business sector as well as private individuals, including professional local racers Levi Leipheimer (Team Astana) and Scott Nydam (Team BMC), stepped in by partially funding the event’s return out of their own pockets. For the first time in the history of the Tour of California, a city had secured the necessary funding before the bid deadline for the coming year's event had even been reached.
New this year: The City is introducing a brand new festival in Railroad Square, just on the other side of Hwy 101 from the actual finish line. The area will include a jumbotron, showing the event's progress. There will also be a Goldsprints competition, a high-profile stationary bike race lasting throughout the day. The Railroad Square venue will be more of an adult oriented festival, complete with a beer garden and DJ spinning tunes.
Also new this year are the Cyclocross competitions leading up to the big race. The events are produced by Bike Monkey in a partnership with the City and are an official lead-in to the festival weekend of bicycle related events and parties that begin the day before the Tour of California comes into town. See the Schedule for Saturday, February 14.
Returning Favorites: For more information on the Woman's Criterium, and the Kids Race, see the schedule of events.