{"id":875429,"date":"2026-08-29T05:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T05:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/875429\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T05:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T05:26:11","slug":"philadelphia-hospitality-industry-looks-for-boost-as-cycling-classic-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/875429\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia hospitality industry looks for boost as cycling classic returns"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Philadelphia’s hospitality industry is looking to Sunday’s Philadelphia Cycling Classic <\/a>to bring more visitors, more foot traffic, and another boost to the city’s tourism economy.<\/p>\n

The race is back in Philadelphia this weekend after a 10-year hiatus, and preparations are underway along the course as cyclists, fans and organizers get ready for Sunday’s event.<\/p>\n

The weekend kicked off Friday night at Bicycle Therapy on South Street, where cycling fans gathered to meet some of the sport’s biggest names, including two-time Olympic gold medalist Kristen Faulkner and 2024 U.S. national road race champion Sean Quinn.<\/p>\n

The free event featured bikes, pizza, beverages and autographs, giving fans a chance to get close to the athletes before they compete on Philadelphia’s streets.<\/p>\n

READ MORE | Everything you need to know about the 2026 Philadelphia Cycling Classic<\/a><\/p>\n

For local fans, the return of the race is an opportunity to see professional cycling in person rather than on television.<\/p>\n

“It’s gonna be really fun to get to watch it live in person instead of on TV, so pretty exciting that it’s coming to our backyard,” South Philadelphia resident Elisabeth Reinkordt said.<\/p>\n

Reinkordt brought her child to meet the cyclists and said he is already a big fan of the sport.<\/p>\n

“Basically the only screen time that this guy gets is watching bike racing at home, so he’s a big fan,” she said.<\/p>\n

The excitement was shared by the cyclists preparing to compete.<\/p>\n

EF Education cyclist Alexis Magner is one of the few riders in the field who has raced the Philadelphia course before. She said she was thrilled when she learned the event was returning.<\/p>\n

“When I heard it was coming back, I was like, of all the races to have gone away and come back, this is the one that I would love to do again,” Magner said.<\/p>\n

Magner said she is particularly excited for her teammates to experience the race and the crowds along the Manayunk Wall.<\/p>\n

“I’m just really excited for all my teammates to experience A., this race, but also racing in North America. The Philly crowd specifically on Manayunk is so cool,” she said.<\/p>\n

She said the energy from Philadelphia’s cycling community makes the race stand out.<\/p>\n

“The cycling community is amazing, the crowd, the energy behind it,” Magner said. “Cycling is not a mainstream sport in the U.S., so when you are in a race and the crowd makes you feel like it’s a mainstream sport, it’s really cool.”<\/p>\n

The race is expected to bring an international field of 212 riders representing 28 countries to Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

It will feature a 14.4-mile circuit that starts and finishes near the Philadelphia Museum of Art and includes the famed Manayunk Wall.<\/p>\n

Ed Grose, president and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association, said the event provides valuable exposure for the city, even if its direct impact on hotel occupancy is difficult to predict.<\/p>\n

“While I don’t know what kind of hotel numbers this is going to produce, I do know that it’s gonna give us a lot of visibility and it’s another thing that will put us on the map as a city that can not only do large events but can do them extremely well,” Grose said.<\/p>\n

Grose said he believes many of the cycling teams are expected to stay in the suburbs, but spectators coming into the city could still create a significant boost for the hospitality industry.<\/p>\n

“I do feel that a lot of the teams will be staying in the suburbs; however, the foot traffic that will be created by people coming down to watch the race will be just another good showing for Philadelphia,” he said.<\/p>\n

The cycling classic is the latest addition to a busy summer of sports and major events in Philadelphia, giving the city another chance to showcase its ability to host large-scale international competitions.<\/p>\n

Grose said those events can generate economic activity, create jobs and build civic pride while helping Philadelphia attract future events, including the 2028 Democratic National Convention.<\/p>\n

“This will just be another accomplishment for us as we continue to try to market to large events such as the 2028 Democratic National Convention,” he said.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Philadelphia’s hospitality industry is looking to Sunday’s Philadelphia Cycling Classic to bring more visitors, more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":875430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[303631,49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-875429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-303631","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=875429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/875430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}