Santa Clarita looks for tourism boost from bike race.Santa Clarita Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, business owners are bracing for thousands of cyclists and fans as the city hosts the penultimate stop of the 700-mile 2007 Amgen Tour of California The Amgen Tour of California is a professional cycling stage race on the UCI America Tour and USA Cycling Professional Tour that made its debut on February 19, 2006. Sponsored by the biotechnology company Amgen, the eight-day race covers between 650-700 miles (1,045 - 1,126 km). . The stage race, which features as many as 150 elite cyclists in 18 teams, is going from San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden to Long Beach over seven days starting Feb. 18. On Saturday, Feb. 24, the second-from-the-last leg takes riders from Santa Barbara 105 miles south and east through Ventura County and into Santa Clarita, finishing at Valencia Town Center. Bikers are expected to arrive at about 3 p.m., but the city is planning a series of events before and after the race, including a Feb. 23 reception with Greg LeMond, the first American cyclist to win the Tour de France Tour de France World's most prestigious and difficult bicycle race. Staged for three weeks each July—usually in some 20 daylong stages—the Tour typically comprises 20 professional teams of nine riders each and covers some 3,600 km (2,235 miles) of flat and . Larry Mankin, president of the Santa Clarita Valley The Santa Clarita Valley is the valley of the Santa Clara River in Southern California. It stretches through Los Angeles County and Ventura County. Its main population center is the city of Santa Clarita. The valley was part of the 48,612-acre (19,672. Chamber of Commerce, said the city is expecting as many as 100,000 fans. "That's a huge number. Any time you have that number around that will spill over into the local economy," he said, benefiting retail, restaurants, gas stations and hotels. Jessica Freude, the film and tourism administrative analyst in the Santa Clarita Office of Economic Development, said some out-of-towners are making a weekend of the event. "We're certainly seeing that people are choosing to stay overnight," she said. The turnout is expected to better occupancy numbers for Santa Clarita hotels. BY CHRIS COATES COATES Community Opportunities Accountability and Training and Educational Services (US Department of Health and Human Services) Staff Reporter |
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