Maryland wants to recycle cross-state bike race

By Liz Farmer – Daily Record Business Writer
Cycling legend Lance Armstrong won the Tour Du Pont in both 1995 and 1996.
Fourteen years after the annual mid-Atlantic cycling race Tour Du Pont abruptly ended, state officials and cycling enthusiasts are trying to bring a race to Maryland in 2012 that could generate as much as $40 million in annual spending.
Tour de Maryland would be a seven-day cycling event covering roads in all five regions of the state — Southern, central and Western Maryland; the Eastern Shore and the capital region, according to Terry Hasseltine, the state’s director of sports marketing who is trying to position the race as a mid-spring precursor to the Tour de France.
“It’s a great way to showcase the state’s tourism assets, and it draws a major international following,” Hasseltine said. “We’re talking the likes of Lance Armstrong and others participating.”
Hasseltine is working with sports promoter Medalist Sports LLC to get statewide support for the event and sell it to a title sponsor. The Georgia-based company also ran the Tour Du Pont, which began as the Tour de Trump in 1989 and 1990, then was sponsored by the Du Pont company from 1991 to 1996. Medalist also runs the Amgen Tour of California, considered one of the pre-eminent races in the U.S. and a build-up race to the Tour de France.
The California race generates more than $40 million in spending each year, and a similar race, the Tour of Missouri, generates $38.1 in spending, Hasseltine said.
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https://mddailyrecord.com/2010/06/10/maryland-wants-to-recycle-cross-state-bike-race/oldId.20100611095010318