“Quiznos Pro Challenge back on track” |
| Quiznos Pro Challenge back on track Posted: 20 Feb 2011 12:34 AM PST Shawn Hunter's arrival as the race's co-director provides a needed boost in credibility.  A cyclist cruises down Lookout Mountain Road in Golden. The road is part of one of three routes under consideration for the inaugural Quiznos Pro Challenge cycling race, which begins in August. (Kristin Morin, YourHub ) If the inaugural Quiznos Pro Challenge bike race were an actual bike in the race, it wasn't careening off the track toward a high cliff but it seemed headed there. Thanks to the Feb. 9 announcement that veteran race director Shawn Hunter is coming aboard as co-director, the Quiznos race is back in the peloton. If Hunter hasn't come to the rescue, he at least adds badly needed credibility to a foundering Quiznos organizational team. Who headed the organizational team four months ago? A wedding planner. Race president Joe Moller came to the Quiznos Pro Challenge from Joe Moller Events, a Los Angeles-based event-organizing company specializing in weddings. Very early his credibility — not to mention the race's — took a beating. During the ballyhooed race announcement on the steps of the capitol on Aug. 4, Moller said, "It's about time we got great international cycling back in the great state of California." While race catalysts Gov. Bill Ritter and Lance Armstrong gave speeches to a throng of fans, Moller was seen behind them texting someone. Moller was gone by October, replaced by Quiznos Corp. PR director Ellen Kramer, who is trained to promote sandwiches, not to organize bike races. Like a mechanic racing through the mountains to a cyclist with a flat, Hunter arrived in the nick of time. "They never had a central focus until Shawn came in," said Denver marketing consultant Michael Aisner, the former race director of Colorado's old Red Zinger Classic and Coors Classic races. "Now it does, hopefully, have a solution." As former president of AEG Sports, Hunter helped start the Tour of California, which has become one of the top non-Grand Tour races in the world. It drew 1.3 million spectators in its first year in 2006 and 1.6 million its second year. "AEG has had a very, very good working record," legendary cycling announcer Phil Liggett said from his home outside London. "So I can only see good coming from that, because they know exactly the way to go." Liggett, who has covered the Tour de France 38 consecutive times, will likely become part of the Quiznos Pro Challenge along with his broadcast partner, Paul Sherwen. After only one week on the job, Hunter is about to announce a television deal. He confirmed that Liggett's Versus network has the inside track. Hunter is going to New York this week to finalize negotiations and hopes to secure the deal by next week. "This will be one of the strongest TV platforms in the history of U.S. cycling," Hunter said. Television, however, is only one contributor to the budget that race insiders say is $7 million to $8 million. Steve Brunner, a self-proclaimed "hired gun," has a long list of races on his marketing resume, including everything from the Tour of California to the Tour of China. Brunner said he has eight sponsors on board. Ten deals are pending and more are expected 45 to 60 days before the race begins Aug. 22 in Colorado Springs. It ends Aug. 28 in Denver. "We're rolling along," Brunner said. "It's natural at the beginning that you need to form some traction." That traction has come in the form of Hunter's arrival, and more will come when the TV deal and participating teams are announced. All involved say they didn't lose traction Wednesday when Armstrong announced his retirement. His Team RadioShack will take part but his involvement is still unknown. Organizers aren't worried, although that may change if his federal investigation into possible doping charges winds up in an indictment. Armstrong didn't participate in the first two highly successful Tours of California, and Brunner said cycling in the U.S. has changed since his time with the Tour de Trump in 1989. "In the day, that event had a lot of top-name guys but you needed that one iconic figure like (Greg) Le-mond," Brenner said. "I just don't see that now. As big as Lance is — and he's unbelievably big when you go to his races — there was, certainly in California last year, equal interest to see guys like Cadel Evans." Getting premier teams could be tricky because Quiznos' race dates conflict with the Vuelta a España, one of the three Grand Tours. On board besides RadioShack is Boulder-based Team Garmin-Cervelo, American teams HTC-Highroad and BMC Racing and Liquigas-Cannondale from Italy. Due to the Vuelta, Hunter can forget about getting Spanish riders. However, many European teams may come to the Quiznos, as well as the Tour of Utah on Aug. 9-14, for altitude training. The Road World Championships are Sept. 19-25 in Denmark. Back in the cycling saddle, Hunter can't wait. "I was blessed at AEG," he said. "I worked with soccer, women's tennis, ice hockey, the NBA. My favorite event was the Tour of California — by far." John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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