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For the second consecutive year Walker County will host the individual time trial stage of the Tour de Georgia, the top-rated cycling stage race in the U.S., set for April 16-22.

Officials from the Georgia Department of Economic Development and Medalist Sports, the agency that markets and operates the event, announced at a news conference Tuesday in Atlanta that Chickamauga will again be the start of the individual time trial.

Set for Thursday, April 19, as stage four of the race, the final ITT route is yet to be determined, but the finish will be somewhere within the city limits of Lookout Mountain, Ga., officials announced.

Last year’s 24.8-mile course, complete with a grueling climb and a high-speed descent of Lookout Mountain and into downtown Chattanooga, was quite a bit longer than a typical time trial stage, and it made world class pro racers take notice.

Chris Aronhalt, executive director of Medalist Sports, said this year’s course will be about four miles shorter, with the finish being essentially uphill. “Those four miles are very significant,” he said. “Of course the drama heading up to Lookout Mountain should provide a great finish.”

As in the 2006 race, cyclists will again bolt from the starting gate on the horseshoe drive in front of Gordon Lee High School to begin “The Race of Truth,” the only stage where, instead of racing all together, competitors leave at one-minute intervals and compete against the clock.

Unlike last year, when the time trial stage crossed the state line into Tennessee, in 2007 it will be completely within Georgia.

On the day previous to the Chickamauga-to-Lookout Mountain stage, Chattanooga will be the finishing line for the 100-plus mile Stage 3 that begins in Rome, Ga.

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2007 Tour de Georgia route and host cities


Stage 1: Monday, April 16 - Peachtree City, Ga., to Macon, Ga.
Stage 2: Tuesday, April 17 - Thomaston, Ga., to Rome, Ga.
Stage 3: Wednesday, April 18 - Rome, Ga., to Chattanooga, Tenn.
Stage 4: Thursday, April 19 - Chickamauga, Ga., to Lookout

Mountain, Ga. (individual time trial)
Stage 5: Friday, April 20 - Dalton, Ga., to Brasstown Bald Mountain


Stage 6: Saturday, April 21 - Lake Lanier Islands to Stone Mountain Park


Stage 7: Sunday, April 22 - Atlanta, Ga. (circuit race)

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Walker County Chamber of Commerce president Stacy Mauer and Chickamauga City Manager John Culpepper were among the host venue representatives on hand for Tuesday’s announcement in Atlanta.

Mauer expressed excitement about Walker County hosting a full stage on its own. “It shows that last year’s race was a success in the eyes of the community and in the eyes of the organizers, to the extent that they have the confidence to bring the entire stage here.”

Culpepper said Chickamauga is “thrilled and honored” that the Tour de Georgia has elected to return for 2007. “It’s a quality, wholesome event, and we’ll certainly send them off with a bang,” he said, no doubt referring to last year’s starting line cannon and rifle fire that made a big impression on visitors and racers alike.

State Sen. Jeff Mullis of Chickamauga was unable to attend the Atlanta event, but was exuberant about the news. “After the response we had in Northwest Georgia last year, it stands to reason that organizers of the Tour would choose to come back.”

Walker County Commissioner Bebe Heiskell agrees. “There were a lot of people who enjoyed the race last year,” she said. “We’re pleased that it gave us some good recognition and with the additional revenue it brought in.”

Alice Robinson, Heiskell’s executive assistant, represented the commissioner at the announcements Tuesday. She said the county’s local-option sales tax revenue, or LOST, during the Tour month of April 2006 experienced a spike compared revenue collected in the previous and following months.

Walker County’s sales tax from April 2006 was $412,000, an increase of nearly $50,000 over March 2006 and almost $39,000 more than May 2006. “I think it’s reasonable to assume that the increase was due in part to the event that month,” Robinson said.

Sen. Mullis pointed out that those numbers came without having the lodging infrastructure that other areas in the state had for the Tour. “The big picture was good all around the state but also good for Walker County.”

According to the Georgia Department of Economic Development, more than 2.3 million spectators have traveled to Georgia to watch the event in the past four years, and direct economic impact has totaled more than $121 million.

The 2007 Tour de Georgia will mark its fifth year with an event expanded from six to seven days of racing. Aronhalt said the Union Cycliste Internationale (the international governing body of cycling, or UCI) granted the additional day over the summer.

“That really happened for a few reasons,” Aronhalt said, citing the aforementioned economic figures and increase in spectators year after year. He also pointed out that two Tour de Georgia winners went on to win the Tour de France, namely Lance Armstrong (2003) and Floyd Landis (2005).

Craig Lesser, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development, related an experience he had while vacationing with his family in Europe last year. They were in Paris just before the end of the Tour de France, and though the TV coverage was in French, Lesser said he understood one phrase that was repeated many times. “They referenced the Tour de Georgia as the lead-up to the Tour de France.”

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