Tour of Georgia Cancelled for 2009
Organizers of the Tour of Georgia, one of three major professional cycling races in the United States, have announced that the race will not be run as scheduled in April 2009. The most obvious reason for the cancellation is the ongoing lack of major sponsors for the race, but planners and supporters of the race insist that by putting it off next year, it will allow the event to become stronger and better in 2010 and beyond.
"We believe that this unique and exciting event will endure," said Tom Saddlemire, a member of the board which organizes the event. "We have decided to use 2009 as a time to plan ahead and properly position the Tour de Georgia to make best use of the new partnerships we forged during the [2008 event]. . . . The planning process for the Tour de Georgia requires a tremendous amount of time and effort and we wanted to give all of our partners enough time to plan and allocate their resources to take full advantage of the event."
The Lance Factor has complicated things too. Early on, right after Lance Armstrong announced his return to cycling, the Tour de Georgia appeared on his list of races for planned participation. Sponsorship possibilities immediately bloomed for the attention both in the U.S. and abroad that the seven-time Tour de France winner would bring. But revised calendars for Lance have him skipping Georgia, and the hopes for him to carry in big piles of sponsorship money in the pockets of those yellow jerseys immediately wilted.
Generally speaking, the event has been very successful since its first year in 2003. Supporters claim 3.2 million spectators have watched the race with a total economic impact over that time of $186 million. But, running these events takes a lot of cash, and with the generally stinky economical situation these days and the number of companies looking to trim costs wherever they can just to stay afloat, I am skeptical that the Georgia folks will be able to come up with a sugar daddy to fund the Tour in 2010. What's worse is that the same challenges face the other two big U.S. races, the Tour of California, which rolls out in February and the Tour of Missouri, which runs in September. Neither have indicated publicly any concern about continued sponsorship, but you have to know that it is on their minds.
Question: do you care about professional bike racing in the United States? Do you follow it in any way? Does it bother you that the Tour de Georgia has been cancelled? Or are you indifferent? Comment below.
Comments
I, for one, will miss this event. The Tour of Calif. is a must watch for me, and I watched the Tour of Missouri on the internet.
The Tour of Georgia falls at a bad time on the calendar, when it conflicts with big European bike races, the start of baseball season, and other events. Still, Id like to have it run. Sorry to say goodbye to Georgia.
I spent a day following it one year (the leg that ended at mountaintop) and had a wonderful time. It was exciting and I had looked forward to following a day or two of it this year. It’s too bad that we are so dependent on superstars and giant budgets for sports in America.
I would like to see the Tour de Georgia continue. I travel from South Florida to Georgia to see the race. It is fun to see the race and a great time of year to visit Georgia!
I’m from the STL. Crossing my fingers this doesn’t happen. But,with the way thing have been going…I would not be shocked. I truely pray that the Tour comes back in 2010. Save the Tours. Start with cutting the budget. Work with less and not more.
I have driven from NW Indiana to TdG for the 2007 and 2008 tour years. I have enjoyed it every year since its inception. As I read this I was was mentally making plans to go in 09. The loss of TdG for 09 is regrettable. I always had a great time riding there and watching the races. I will keep my fingers crossed and hope it continues in 2010. Guess I’ll consider TdC for 2010. Just one aside – I will not miss climbing “The Wall” of Brasstown Bald.
I have never been able to watch the tour of Georgia. Searching the TV channels, I have never been able to find it anywhere. Yes I would like to watch it. Yes I will miss the reports in the newspaper.
I saw some of this race on the Universal Sports channel. I didn’t know it was one of the major U.S. cycling races. Hopefully the souring economy doesn’t take down the other races.
I am tremendously disappointed that there will be no Tour De Georgia in 2009. I appreciate our state for bringing attention to the sport of cycling and I hope as I have read in the article above that the event will return in 2010. Cylcing is a truly international sport, one that can foster good relations with many of our European neighbors. The younger generations of Americans need this exposure since that is where most of the citizens that founded this nation came from. Also cycling is a great low impact sport for those of us who are a little older, and a fun way to get back into, or stay in shape. I plan to express this opinion to our Lt. Governor and hope others will and maybe we can ensure the return of this great sporting event.
I’m learning about this late since every April I start to look at the calendar and plan a day on Brasstown Bald. It’s a great climb and a great day on the Mtn. Even on the day one year when we had snow flurries. Even the big teams from Europe came although they didn’t bring the A team usually. Still sad to see it go and hope it returns.