Record crowds for Santos Tour Down Under

The organiser of the Santos Tour Down Under, Mike Turtur, has announced record-breaking figures in terms of spectators for this year's eight-day event. Preliminary crowd figures have revealed that the race attracted 772,000 spectators, compared with 770,500 in 2010.

"I want to thank the thousands of spectators who embraced the event, many of them travelling from interstate and around the world to attend the Santos Tour Down Under," said Turtur, who is already planning next year's Tour to take place from January 15-22, 2012.

"It was an honour to welcome such a high calibre of cyclists to South Australia and to see the next generation of Australian superstars, including this year's winner, Cameron Meyer, in action," he added, moreover honouring the presence of Lance Armstrong who certainly drew international attention to the event.

"It was also wonderful Lance Armstrong chose the Santos Tour Down Under to be his last race on international soil. While we are sorry that it was his last ride we are looking forward to welcoming him and his family back to South Australia in a different capacity."

The race was also a huge success for regional South Australia, with councils organising a host of activities in the start and finish towns as part of the Santos Festival of Cycling. Events South Australia General Manager Hitaf Rasheed says a record 20 councils have expressed interest in hosting a stage of next year's Tour.

"This year's Tour has again been a huge success and work has already begun on the 2012 event and the exciting challenge of making it bigger and better again next year," she said.