Amgen Tour cyclists will spend the night in Modesto

Modesto officials may want to add this to their marketing efforts to promote the city: The 2016 Amgen Tour of California slept here.

The City Council approved Tuesday, on a 4-3 vote, entering into an agreement with the Tour and spending $75,000 to provide hotel rooms and meals for the annual road race featuring some of the world’s best cyclists. Some 350 riders and team members will spend the night in Modesto before the Tour’s Stage 5 starts May 19 in Lodi.

Mayor Garrad Marsh and council members Doug Ridenour, Jenny Kenoyer and Tony Madrigal voted for the proposal. Madrigal said this was an opportunity to promote Modesto and asked that material touting city attractions – such as the annual Fourth of July parade – be left in the riders’ and team members’ hotel rooms.

Council members Kristi Ah You, Mani Grewal and Bill Zoslocki voted against the proposal. They questioned whether Modesto would have enough time to raise the money to recover its costs. Grewal also questioned the economic benefit to the city. Zoslocki said something must have fallen through for AEG for it to ask Modesto for help at such a late date.

“I wish they had given us more time,” he said.

AEG – the global sports and entertainment giant that owns and operates the Tour – will provide Modesto with marketing and promotions in exchange for the lodging and meals for the riders and their crews. The city hopes to raise money to recoup the $75,000.

AEG contacted Modesto in late December because it needs a place for the cyclists to spend the night in the Valley after they finish Stage 4 of the Tour in Monterey County on May 18 and begin the Lodi stage the next day. Lodi does not have enough hotel rooms. The riders and their entourages would be driven to Modesto and then to Lodi.

Typically, the host city where a stage ends is responsible for putting up the riders and their crews. Modesto did that when it was a host city several years ago. This year’s Stage 5 ends in South Lake Tahoe, and the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority is responsible for the meals and lodging.

An AEG official did not return phone calls this week seeking comment. A Monterey County official said this week that it was her understanding the Tour did not ask her county or its partner agency to provide lodging and meals for the riders, even though Stage 4 ends in her community.

Community and Economic Development Director Cindy Birdsill told council members this agreement was an opportunity for Modesto to strengthen its relationship with AEG in the hope the Tour would return here one day. Modesto was a host city on the Tour from 2008 to 2011.

Birdsill said while she is optimistic, there is no guarantee the Tour will return or that the city will recover its expenses.

The agreement calls for Modesto to provide 250 hotel rooms (70 percent of them double rooms, 30 percent single rooms) and a team dinner and team breakfast for 350 people. Modesto also negotiated a room rate of $90 for as many as 100 additional hotel rooms. The Tour will pay for those rooms. (A previous Bee story incorrectly reported Modesto would provide a partial subsidy for the 100 rooms.)

In exchange, Modesto will be mentioned in marketing and promotional materials for the race, have a booth at the lifestyle festivals in Lodi and South Lake Tahoe, ads on smartphone apps that track the race, and a 30-second commercial broadcast during the race. Birdsill said Modesto could use the commercial to promote the city or sell it to raise money.

The city also will receive about four dozen VIP passes for Stage 5 from Lodi to South Lake Tahoe, two autographed jerseys and have a rider appear at a VIP event in Modesto. The city can sell the passes, jerseys and tickets to the VIP event to recover its costs.

Birdsill said it was too soon for her to give the council many specifics about the proposal, such as how much money it could raise by selling the 30-second commercial. She added that staff was waiting for council approval before contacting potential sponsors.

This story was originally published February 3, 2016 at 3:32 PM with the headline "Amgen Tour cyclists will spend the night in Modesto."