Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 30, 1995 TAG: 9505020040
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It took the valley too long to get on the Tour map, then it took only about three hours and 22.9 miles to gain a reputation. When they finished at the City Market during last year's Tour, some cyclists couldn't really put into words the time trial they had just experienced.
They were either trying to catch their breath, or to avoid being hit by a car on Williamson Road.
When the 1,130-mile race returns Monday for its second Salem-to-Roanoke ride, after today's five-plus hours from Lynchburg to Blacksburg, the Over the Hill gang knows where the Tour is going from here.
Downhill.
Lance Armstrong takes the Roanoke Valley time trial in short sentences. It doesn't make it any easier.
``It's real hard,'' said Armstrong, who came to town last weekend for a pre-trial run. ``No, it's damn hard. I think it is the Tour DuPont. I think it's where the Tour is won. It's the day it happens.''
While it may be wonderful to have the crucial stage of the Tour in the neighborhood to go with the festival atmosphere, the Roanoke Valley's future with the event already may be reaching a crossroads.
Yes, a time trial - particularly one that is such a physical and technical test - makes the valley an impressive and important route on the Tour map. A time trial, however, no matter how crucial, is a boring exercise to most spectators who don't know what a peloton is, but want to see at least one.
One cyclist going past at a time - particularly when it's a foreign name that draws blank looks in what still is a foreign sport in this country - isn't going to keep producing the 80,000 people lining the course the Virginia State Police told sponsoring Medalist Sports, Inc., were here last year.
It will be interesting to see what kind of crowds appear Monday. Last year, some spectators who didn't understand the time-trial concept wanted to know when the pack of racers was going to go past.
Good question.
There is no question the corporate interest in the race is here. Cycle Roanoke Valley, the organizing committee for the Tour stage, didn't have to educate prospective sponsors after last year's show. The $102,000 needed to cover costs for the stage will be reached when receipts from Monday's souvenir sales are tallied. It was more of a struggle to break even a year ago.
The committee has asked Medalist to consider the Roanoke Valley for more than a time trial, which the local organizing committee would not relinquish. It brought more national and international attention to the region last year than anyone could have imagined.
However, to build or even sustain interest from the general public, the Roanoke Valley needs more of the Tour - a start or a finish to go with the time trial the day before or after. The subject has been broached. Medalist hasn't said yes or no.
The Cycle Roanoke Valley preference is a finish, which brings more excitement, and also certainly would keep the event in town overnight before the time trial the following day. It also might bring a Sunday into the calendar, enhancing crowd potential.
It is estimated by Cycle Roanoke Valley that adding another piece of a stage would bring the revenue needed to the $130,000 range. That includes the rights fee and per diem costs for Medalist that probably would go from this year's $12,500 to about $20,000. Count on Cycle Roanoke Valley to be out seeking 1996 sponsors Tuesday.
How such changes would fit into Medalist's map is the question to be answered. The Tour organizer is considering a '96 finish at the Olympic Games venue in Atlanta. What might help the Roanoke Valley is DuPont's corporate permission to Medalist to move the Tour start, if needed for one Olympic year, to a more southern point than Wilmington, Del., where DuPont is based. It's also uncertain whether Lynchburg will renew its contract with Medalist.
Wilmington, Richmond, Lynchburg, Charlotte, N.C., and Greenville, S.C., have pieces of multiple stages on this year's Tour. The Roanoke Valley may have to change its Tour profile, too, if it is going to have as mountainous a profile in its backyard as it does in Europe.
by CNB