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Santa Clarita Looks For Tourism Boost From Bike Race

Santa Clarita 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 stage race, which features as many as 150 elite cyclists in 18 teams, is going from San Francisco 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. Larry Mankin, president of the Santa Clarita Valley 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.

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