Wine and Bikes, Well, Almost

Filed in archive Wine Events on February 20, 2007

Loads of cyclists will be peddling like crazy through wine country this week as part of the Tour of California. Too bad they won't have time to stop and take a sip or two, but this will probably bring a lot of other wine lovers out to watch the contestants and enjoy some vino.

From Tour of California to pedal past vineyards:

Some of the world's top cyclists make their way to Tracy and Livermore on Wednesday afternoon as part of the third stage of the Tour of California.

They will start in Stockton and finish in San Jose, pedaling past Mountain House and through Livermore's wine country along the way. Of course, at the speeds they will be traveling, they won't get a chance to admire the local sights.

Tracy Police Lt. Wade Harper said his department has been working with race officials and the California Highway Patrol for about a month. Officers from the patrol division and traffic section, along with Volunteers in Police Service and West Valley mall security guards, are handling street closures.

"The preparation is probably going to take longer than the tour. They'll be gone in 15 minutes at the most," Harper said. "Getting the streets closed, using barricades at the corner, that's what's going to take up our time."

He expected the bikers to roll through Tracy around noon.