Glenelg returns to Tour Down Under map as State Government tries to encourage more European visitors

GLENELG is back on the Tour Down Under map for the first time in seven years and the State Government is using it as a carrot to lure more European visitors to SA next January.

2010 Tour Down Under preview - first team to arrive and hit our roads. Ag2r training along the foreshore at Glenelg - Blel K...

GLENELG is back on the Tour Down Under (TDU) map for the first time in seven years and the State Government is using it as a carrot to lure more European visitors to SA next January.

Major Events SA is targeting British and Irish cycling tourists with a TDU marketing booth at London’s Canary Wharf during the Tour de France which began in Leeds on Saturday night.

As revealed by The Advertiser on Saturday, a feature of next year’s race is Stage 4 from Glenelg to Mount Barker, which will double as the mass community participation ride, the Bupa Challenge Tour.

It is the first time Adelaide’s premier beachside suburb has been included on the TDU route since 2008 when it regularly hosted the Down Under Classic to open the event.

Glenelg’s Jetty Road will be closed to traffic on Thursday night, January 22, to host a major street party before an estimated 6000 recreational cyclists pedal off with the WorldTour peloton from Colley Reserve the following morning.

The Jetty Road Mainstreet Board has committed $30,000 towards hosting the stage start and Holdfast Bay Council will contribute between $20,000 and $30,000.

“You’ve always got to change things around, look at the Tour de France which started last night in Yorkshire and what a fantastic thing that is,” Sports Minister Leon Bignell said yesterday.

“Here we’re revisiting old friends down at Glenelg, (there has been) terrific support from the local council and I’m sure the riders are going to look forward to being back at the Bay.”

Mr Bignell said organisers wanted to grow the 2000 entrants in the Bupa Challenge Tour who travel from interstate or overseas.

“This year we’re setting up a Santos Tour Down Under marketing booth at Canary Wharf which will be the UK hub for people watching the Tour de France,” he said.

“We’re actually taking our marketing to the people in the UK which is a big audience for us.

“It will be set up for the final weekend, there’s a big hub for UK cycling fans to watch the big screens as the riders go up the Champs Elysees and the final few stages.

“We’ll be there making sure we can get as many people onto planes (and) bringing their bikes.

“The other place we’ve targeted is Ireland, we all know Ireland has been in the economic doldrums over the past few years.

“One of the bullet proof sectors of the Irish economy is cycling so you’re seeing bigger stores opening up and more bikes being sold even at the top end.

“The feedback we’re getting from Ireland is there are people there who are willing to travel to Adelaide next January for the race.”

TDU race director Mike Turtur said Glenelg’s Colley Reserve was a perfect spot to start next year’s Bupa Challenge Tour Stage 4 because of its proximity to the city, and he has promised “a few surprises” when the rest of the race route is revealed on July 14.

Holdfast Bay Mayor Ken Rollond said it had submitted expressions of interest to host the TDU each year since 2008 and he was pleased the race was returning to the Bay.

“We have put expressions of interest in every year but the Tour Down Under has got to be for the whole community and that includes other councils apart from ours,” he said.

“After seven years it’s our turn again and we’re very grateful the Tour Down Under is going to come back.”

Bupa Challenge Tour riders can choose from four distances including the full 151.7km which goes out the Southern Expressway and takes in Sellicks Hill, Mount Compass, Strathalbyn, Meadows and Echunga.

Originally published as Glenelg returns to Tour Down Under map as State Government tries to encourage more European visitors