Friday, February 23, 2007

400,000 screaming, cowbell-clanging fans

George Hincapie in Seaside, CA at the start of Stage 4 in the 2007 Tour of California. Photo by Freakishly Tall.
That's how Sal Ruibal described the first three stages of the Amgen Tour of California. Hundreds of thousands of fans lined the course to cheer on the fans. This in spite of drug scandals and Lance Armstrong's retirement.

Graham is puzzled about this Bizzaro world where cycling popularity increases with bad news. Chimp notes that cycling sponsorship is a great deal for corporate sponsors. "Ten Million is not much when you compare it any of the major ball sports here in the US," he writes. "The Indianapolis Colts are trying to restructure Payton Manning’s contract just to freee up Eight Million dollars extra. Petty cash in the NFL is ProTour team cash in cycling. Plus, fans do not have to purchase tickets to go watch the sport."

Traffic to Cyclelicious has increased substantially, with hundreds of visitors coming here for Amgen Tour of California updates though I have none to offer. For Amgen Tour of California news, visit Cycling News, Pez Cycling News, or VeloNews. I also like Spare Cycles and Velochimp. Local TV news coverage has been pretty good, too, which I try to keep updated on my 2007 Amgen Tour of California TV video coverage page.

1 comment:

  1. Great coverage of the Amgen Tour of California at SFist.com .

    ReplyDelete