Elk Grove Village hosts 'cash-tastic' cycling Tour
The Alexian Brothers Tour of Elk Grove men's professional race now boasts the largest purse in North America for such events, according to the sport's national governing body.
The village's three-day men's only bicycle race, now in its fourth year, begins Friday and is expected to draw high-caliber professional athletes.
It is considered among
the 31 top cycling events in the nation this year,
receiving the second-highest ranking on USA Cycling's 2009 calendar along with two other multiday cycling events.
USA Cycling, the national governing body for bicycle racing, dubbed the Tour of Elk Grove the "richest men's race" on the 2009 national racing calendar, with a total purse of $152,500 for professional cyclists. Total prize money for all races is $195,000.
"We're only three days, but our purse is bigger than even the longer tours," Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson said.
The Tour of Elk Grove's overall champion --
whoever scores the fastest time in the three-stage men's professional race
-- takes home $25,000.
Cyclists typically don't win the kind of prize money professional athletes in other sports enjoy.
"In bicycle races, our prize package is huge," Johnson said. "The pros have dubbed the race 'the cash-tastic race' because the size of the purse. They love it."
The prestigious 106-year-old Tour de France, a three-week, 2,100-mile international challenge, boasts cycling's biggest cash prize -- 450,000 Euros or roughly $638,000.
The overall prize money for USA Cycling's 2009 national racing calendar is more than $1.3 million. Of that, roughly $954,000 is earmarked for men's races, while the overall women's purse is about $424,000.
In Elk Grove, professional cyclists can win up to
$45,000 in three days of racing, which includes time trial, road stage and criterium, Johnson said.
Making USA Cycling's 2009 national racing calendar is a coup. The national body sanctions about 2,500 competitive bike races each year and hand picks the top 30 to 35 races in the country to be a part of the calendar.
Cyclist Chris Horner, 37, of San Diego, Calif., who
has competed in the Tour of California and Tour of Elk Grove numerous times, says the Elk Grove race is more "action packed from start to finish."
"It's an exciting race because it's set up as a criterium course," Horner said. "The laps are really small so you have a lot of corners coming up and lot of attacks from the different riders trying to break away."
Horner is gearing up for a fourth attempt at winning the Tour of Elk Grove after breaking his collar bone during last year's race.
"You always have a little bit of danger involved when you're doing the smaller courses," Horner said.
"There's no time to back off. You are just full gas from start to finish and that's what makes this race really exciting."
<div style="float:right;margin:6px 6px 6px 6px;"> <img src="/graphics/egvbiketour.jpg" width="300" height="391" border="0"></a></p> </div> <div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=309990">Tour of Elk Grove race schedule<span class="date"> [7/29/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>