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Tour of Puerto Rico suffers last-minute cancellation

By Sean Weide, Special to VeloNews
Published: Sep. 12, 2006

San Juan, Puerto Rico – This year’s Tour of Puerto Rico (UCI 2.2) promised to be a longer, harder and – its promoters said – a much more organized race.

Unfortunately, the more than 100 riders and 17 teams who were scheduled to start the four-day, five-stage event on Thursday will never know. At noon Tuesday, the Puerto Rican Cycling Federation held a press conference to announce the race had been cancelled.

Alexis Cruz, federation president, said the race organization failed to gather the $30,000 needed to cover expenses and prizes.

“The Tour cannot occur,” Cruz said. “It’s a financial responsibility that the federation cannot assume.”

One team from Mexico had already arrived in Puerto Rico when the announcement was made. Another from the United States, Team Kaos of Nebraska, learned of the news as it stepped off the plane an hour later.

“This is certainly not what we wanted to hear,” Team Kaos’ Marco Vasquez said.

In its inaugural edition in April of 2005, the Tour of Puerto Rico was saddled by logistical problems – including last-minute course changes, inadequate housing for the racers after the longest (104 miles) stage and an opening time trial that drew the ire of San Juan’s mayor for causing bringing the morning rush hour to a halt.