Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 14, 1994 TAG: 9401140251
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ANDREA KUHN and STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Michael Plant, president of Medalist Sports, the tour's Richmond-based organizer, said the tour could be rerouted because of contractual disagreements with the new management at The Homestead.
"To be perfectly honest, the change in ownership at The Homestead has caused some difficulties," Plant said. "But I'm a reasonable person and I'm trying to find creative alternatives. Contractually, I could have just said no, but, being reasonable, I decided to explore changes in the route."
Club Resorts Inc., a Dallas-based company, bought the resort in October from Virginia Hot Springs Inc., and formed Management Company for Homestead Inc., which now runs the 600-room hotel, three golf courses, ski slopes and other resort facilities. The contract between The Homestead and the Tour DuPont was signed before Management Company took over.
Gary Rosenberg, president of The Homestead, said he did not expect the resort to withdraw from the event.
"By no means am I aware of anyone pulling out," Rosenberg said. "We have asked [Plant] to rearrange some things in the contract, but we've been working very diligently with the Tour DuPont."
Neither Rosenberg nor Plant would discuss specifics of the contractual disagreements. Mary Sanders, The Homestead's public relations director, is at a convention in Dallas and did not return phone messages to discuss The Homestead's position.
Host sites make bids to Medalist that include providing hotel rooms and meals for cyclists and their entourages. For example, Roanoke, which will be the host of Stage 5, agreed to provide 400 hotel rooms and 600 meals.
Plant indicated that a resolution between the two parties could come today, and said that one option was to have the tour bypass The Homestead this year. In that case, he said Blacksburg was ready to be host of the finish of Stage 6 on May 10.
Blacksburg already is scheduled to be host of the start of Stage 7, a race to Beech Mountain, N.C., on May 11. Plant said Blacksburg officials were very receptive to a proposal that would give the town a race finish.
"There's no question that a finish has a bigger presence in the event," Plant said. ". . . I feel comfortable with a change and [Blacksburg] feels comfortable.
"We're lucky that it's still at a stage where we're able to do this, although nothing is final yet. It's a very taxing and enormous process. . . It's a logistically challenging event."
The original route, announced in September, involved a race from Richmond to Lynchburg on May 8 (Stage 4), a time trial in Roanoke on May 9 (Stage 5) and a race from Lynchburg to The Homestead on May 10 (Stage 6). Cyclists would be transported by car back and forth from Lynchburg to Roanoke between stages.
Following the finish at The Homestead, cyclists would be taken by car to Blacksburg - about a 2 1/2-hour trip - for the Stage 7 start on May 11.
Bypassing The Homestead would let cyclists race from Lynchburg to Blacksburg on May 10, eliminating the long transport from the resort to Blacksburg.
"It may be a blessing in disguise," Plant said. "We're just lucky we have so many options."
Blacksburg officials and organizers, while admitting that talks were ongoing, also stressed that no changes had been made officially. A news conference in Blacksburg is scheduled for Tuesday to announce details of Blacksburg's involvement in the tour.
"It's not definite yet," said Blacksburg Town Manager Ron Secrist. But he sounded optimistic.
Tour DuPont officials approached the town in December about possibly setting up a finish instead of a start, he said. And race officials have offered to work with the town in finding accommodations for the cyclists.
Because Virginia Tech's graduation falls in the same week as Blacksburg's stage, hotel rooms will be booked solid. So race officials have considered holding the finish, then transporting the cyclists to Wytheville to spend the night, Secrist said.
That possibility would lop off a hunk of the added expense that comes with holding a finish, he said.
A start would cost $5,000 to $8,000, he said. With a finish, "you sign on to the housing and feeding and the entourage," and could end up paying $60,000. Plant said the average price tag for a finish was $80,000 to $100,000, depending on the market.
But if the cyclists were to sleep in Wytheville, the costs would come to about $30,000, Secrist said. The Chamber of Commerce sells sponsorships to local businesses to raise the funds.
Money and logistics aside, the word that spins larger around a finish is "exposure."
While a start-attending crowd begins fizzling out about midday, after the riders are away, the crowd at a finish shows up early and leaves late, said Mike Matzuk, chairman of the local organizing committee and owner of East Coasters bicycle shop.
ESPN televises the finish, and shows it on "Big Mo," a tractor-trailer-sized screen set up at the venue, picking up the race two hours from the end, he said. There's usually a larger crowd, more cameras and media, and a bigger buildup throughout the day.
"The crowd really gets into what's going on real intensely," Matzuk said. "It's just a bigger whoop-de-do."
The extra money and planning time the town would have to spend is worth it, Secrist said.
"The finish is where it all is," he said.
by CNB