Santa Clarita wins the right to host popular bike race again

Amgen Tour of California officials announced this morning that Santa Clarita will again be a host to the stage six finish of the Tour as well as the stage seven start.

 

The Amgen Tour of California is one of the biggest bicycle races in the world, with its only rival being the Tour De France.

 

Last year, over 100,000 people lined the streets for the Tour, providing a huge economic boom for the Santa Clarita Valley. The overall economic impact across the state of California was estimated at $100 million last year.

 

Santa Clarita itself will definitely see a larger amount of money result from the event, because many of the spectators will stay overnight this year, and participate in two days worth of activities with the stage six finish and the stage seven start.

 

[view:node_ad=5]And, like last year, Santa Clarita has secured a weekend slot for the festivities, which could likely make it one of the most popular days.

 

Another factor that figures to bring out the spectators is the fact that Stage six is one of the more grueling stages in the race, and will probably determine the overall winner of the Amgen Tour of California.   

 

The first stage will begin Palo Alto at Stanford University.  It will then continue up to Sausalito, and into Santa Rosa and Sacramento.  The third stage will begin in Modesto and end in San Jose.  At Seaside, the fourth

stage will begin, and then will end down in San Luis Obispo.  Next, Solvang will host the fifth stage, which is an individual time trial.  

 

Stage six will see the riders pedal their way from Santa Barbara to the stage finish line in Santa Clarita. Then, the following day, the riders will start the final stage of the race in the SCV, and end up in Pasadena, where a winner will be crowned.

 

While the finishing stage should be on McBean Parkway again, the starting location for the next day may be at a different location in Santa Clarita. City Manager Ken Pulskamp said that City staff is looking at several locations for the next day’s start, and Downtown Newhall is one of them. 

 

 

 

 

 

KHTS' Nicole Ryan also contributed to the story.  Pictures of the Pasadena  press conference taken by Kathy Smith.