Priority Health Tour de Leelanau taking shape

The 2008 Priority Health Tour de Leelanau will be led by a record participation of 17 teams in the Men's field and 11 teams in the Women's field and will take place on Sunday, May 25th, 2008.

The Men's race will include the Bissell Pro Cycling Team of defending champion Garrett Peltonen, who is looking to repeat in a race that is very important to their Grand Rapids, Michigan, based sponsor. Bissell has been on a hot streak recently, winning stages at the Tour of the Gila in New Mexico and the Joe Martin Stage race in Arkansas as well as leading the National Race Calendar (NRC) series.

The main competitors to Bissell will be Team R.A.C.E., lead by 2007 Tour de Leelanau runner up Ryan Roth and former Canadian National Champion, Mark Walters, as well as the BMC Pro Cycling team. Other pro teams competing are; Rite-Aid Pro Cycling, Team Inferno Pro Cycling, Successful Living and Jet Fuel Coffee.

The Women's race will feature the deepest field yet for the Priority Health Tour de Leelanau. Headlining the event will be the Colavita-Sutter Home team of defending champion Tina Pic and two time race winner Mackenzie Woodring.

This year's edition of the Women's race promises to be the most exciting with challenges coming from teams such as Cheerwine, ValueAct Capital, Team TIBCO, Equipe Cascades and Priority Health.

The Priority Health Tour de Leelanau is sanctioned by the International Cycling Union (UCI) and USA Cycling, and is one of the sixteen events that make up the 2008 USA Cycling Pro Tour" series

More information is available by visiting www.tourdeleelanau.com