Tour de France cyclist Floyd Landis, who finished as a top 10 general cyclist in 2005 and--in 2006--has already won the Amgen Tour in California, the prestigious Paris-Nice (both week long stage races) and was the overall winner at April's Ford Tour de Georgia, will be racing in the streets of Elk Grove Village at the Alexian Brothers International Cycling Classic Tour of Elk Grove (Tour of Elk Grove) to be held on August 12-13.

This inaugural, weekend-long "criterium" cycling event will feature a whopping $153,000 in the total cash prize money. (A criterium is a popular U.S. bike race typically held in a closed circuit loop of 1-2 miles in length. Tour of Elk Grove races will take place on the Village's streets.)

At Tour of Elk Grove, Landis--who from 2002-2004 was a teammate of Lance Armstrong on the U.S. Postal Service's Tour de France team--will be competing for the biggest single-event cash prize of $25,000 for the first-place winner of the Men's International Pro Race, a 100k criterium race presented by the U.S. Cycling Federation. This race will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 12. In addition, Landis will also be signing autographs at the event from 11:00-11:45 a.m. that morning.

"The Village is very excited about hosting this event. The participation of a cyclist as acclaimed as Floyd will spotlight the race and draw the attention of other top professional cyclists," says Mayor Craig Johnson. The prize money for Tour of Elk Grove--which features professional and amateur athletes from around the world competing in a total of 14 races- -makes it one of the largest purses of its kind for a cycling event in the U.S. (For more information, visit www.tourofelkgrove.com or call 773- 868-3010.)

The races will take place from 9:00 a.m.- 6:00 p.m. each day. Start location for races is Ridge and Elk Grove Boulevard (at the south end of Audubon Park). The event is free for spectators.

Tour of Elk Grove is being held as part of the Village's 50th anniversary celebration in 2006. It is presented by Alexian Brothers Medical Center, an acclaimed health care facility in Elk Grove Village.