My wish is coming true... From the Boston Globe:
Watch out for syringes along Lake Champlain! Next summer, New England is going to get its first world-class cycling event, the eight-day Montreal-Boston Tour, featuring Tour de France level competitors. ``It's going to be big, with national and international coverage,'' says Vermont tourism commissioner Bruce Hyde.
The Salzburg, Austria-based International Cycling Union says the race will take place Aug. 4-11, and has granted us a 2.1 level license, meaning that top teams from Europe and the Americas will compete. (It will also be an Olympic qualifying event.) In a press release, tour executive Daniel Manibal declares that ``after three years of hard work, the UCI not only grants us a unique race but bonifies it by according us the 2.1 license.'' Translation, please.
The race will spend four days in Canada, and four days crossing Vermont and New Hampshire before arriving in Boston. ``There's still lot of work to be done,'' warns Van McLeod, New Hampshire's commissioner of cultural resources. No sponsors have yet been identified, and state and local police forces have yet to be informed of the route. In fact, the exact path remains to be determined. ``If a local community says they don't want the tour, obviously they will have to change the route,'' McLeod says.