The man behind Tour of California bicycle race

Considering the popularity of the Tour de Georgia, I certainly gave it a spot on the podium. At least I did until Monday, when the potentially biggest draw for the race, Lance Armstrong, announced he was retiring from pro bicycle racing after this year's Tour de France.

You could hear the air whistling out of the tire as it went flat.

But I reminded myself the person driving the Tour of California idea is not Armstrong, it's Phil Anschutz, above, a Colorado billionaire investor with a knack for making sound investments. He's like the cyclist who breaks away from the peloton with 120 miles left in a 140-mile road race and ends up with a stage win.

BusinessWeek Online reports that Anschutz is used to making long shots pay off. For instance, he backed the movie “Ray” when no one else would, and we know what a huge success that became.

While his earlier successes came in oil and telephone communications (he founded Qwest), it's the newspaper business (Examiner newspapers) and his Anschutz Entertainment Group that has the priority now. He's made investments in hockey, basketball and soccer, built the Staples Center in LA, and now he's putting $35 million down over five years on the Tour of California.

More details about the eight-stage race are expected this summer. Right now, about the only thing certain is the time — February 2006 says the Tour of California website — and the fact that a high profile player is getting it started.

Update: VeloNews reports that chances for the Tour of California, as well as other US races Tour de Georgia and Philly Week, to get onto the ProTour schedule are remote.

The ruling means that there will be no new races introduced into the ProTour series for as long as perhaps 2008. Several races in Belgium, England, Scandinavia and Central Europe have asked to be part of the ProTour schedule.

That also means no U.S. based races – such as Philly week, the Tour de Georgia or the planned Tour of California – will be part of cycling's top tier any time soon.

Not getting scheduled on the ProTour means some teams will find it difficult to break away from Europe for a race in the US.