Amgen Tour of California
For the 4th Straight year, Modesto will be the center of the cycling universe! One May 17th the Amgen Tour of California will finish in downtown Modesto in what is now one of the biggest cycling events in the world. Teams from around the world will be competing in 8 beautiful stages from Lake Tahoe, through central California, down the coast and then finishing in Thousand Oaks. Climbs, sprints, breakaways and excitement follow the race, city to city.
Stage 3 will finish between 2 and 3 pm at the corner of I and 12th Street. The race will blaze through Oakdale, then burn down Claus and Scenic into downtown. Once in downtown, the race will loop twice through the college district, racing down the classic Graffiti cruise route of 11th St, past MJC, around Graceada Park and back to I Street.
Stage 3 will be a sprinters dream and will certainly prove to be an exciting high-speed sprint finish. The best places to view will be, all along Scenic between Claus and downtown, along Needham when the pack comes off of Sycamore and anywhere along the loop in downtown.
There will be a huge lifestyle festival on 10th, 11th 12th and I streets. Visitors from around the world will be visiting out town and eating in our local restaurants. TV broadcasts will be beamed from I street in dozens of languages.
ModestoView is presenting live music from 11 to 3 on the Budweiser Stage in the lifestyle festival featuring the American Graffiti 50s themed Rob Ely, the rocking Matty Comer and the Experience, the Americana sound of Hickory and Soul Heart. Make sure to keep your eyes peeled for the classic cars and the strolling Elvi and classic characters that make up our exciting Graffiti Scene.
KFIV1360 will be live near the finish line with Dave Diamond to report the race progress to the community and video will be available on a huge jumbotron that will show the TV feed going out to the world. This will truly be a very exciting day.
As a finish city, the racing teams will be staying in Modesto so the team mechanics prepping the $10,000 racing bikes for the next day will be on display in the parking lot of the Center Plaza. Rider sightings should be good too as they relax after a long day on the bike and get ready for stage 4.
The city of Modesto still needs volunteers to help control the crowds, protect the racecourse, and assist in the festival area. You can sign up by clicking the link on ModestoView.com
Huge props to the leadership of the City of Modesto for pushing hard to help attract and keep this amazing world-class sporting event in Modesto. The volunteer turn out is the best in the Tour of California and we should all be so proud and thankful to our sponsors and volunteers for making this a big part of Modesto.
