Steve Bodnar

Mayor Bernie Streeter blames Boston for the delay of a professional bicycle race that was to pass through the city, but event organizers disagree, calling the postponement a collective decision.

Streeter announced Wednesday that he was disappointed with the decision to postpone the Montreal-Boston Tour that was intended to kick-off this August and make a stop in Nashua along the way. He also singled out Boston as the source for the setback.

“As mayor, I am personally offended by the city of Boston’s lack of interest and support,” he said in a written statement released Wednesday. “I know our state officials who have worked long and hard on this event also are crushed with this decision.”

Richard Krezwick, an event organizer and managing director of the Massachusetts Sports and Entertainment Commission, said Streeter’s statement was “ridiculous.”

“I was obviously shocked by the mayor’s comments,” said Krezwick in a voicemail to The Telegraph on Thursday afternoon. “I’d rather give you the facts than be a mayor who’s giving second-hand information.”

Krezwick said the city of Boston and the state of Massachusetts worked feverishly for the past year to pull together the bicycle race that is now intended to run in August 2008.

“From the very beginning, we took on a very ambitious schedule and we tried our very best to complete that schedule,” said Krezwick during a telephone interview.

Van McLeod, the commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Cultural Resources, said trying to coordinate the race in an eight-month time period proved too difficultfor the amount of preparation needed.

“There are logistical issues, marketing issues, safety issues. There are just so many issues,” said McLeod, who is charged with coordinating the race in New Hampshire, during a telephone interview Thursday afternoon.

Daniel Manibal, the president and director of the Montreal-Boston Tour, agreed that coordinating the event was a great challenge considering the magnitude.

He said officials in Canada, Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts decided all parties needed more time to organize the race.

Manibal said the decision was collective and Boston officials were not to blame, emphasizing the fact that the city had done everything in its power to get the project under way.

“The people in both countries and all the states, the towns, the cities, in the short span of time we had, from the time we got the license up to today, did a fantastic job,” said Manibal during a telephone interview from Quebec on Thursday.

Julie A. Burns, the director of department of arts, tourism and special events in Boston, said there was a mutual decision on the part of all event coordinators from every state and both countries to postpone the race for a year.

“We all agreed that we wanted to go all the way to create a great race but based on the complexities of logistics we had to delay,” said Burns from a cell phone. “If the mayor of Nashua believes that going half way is good enough for his city we disagree and postponing is the responsible thing to do.”

However, Streeter still saw Boston as the source for the delay Thursday afternoon, despite a general consensus from race officials that Boston was not to blame for the postponing of the Montreal-Boston Tour.

“The only logical conclusion was that Boston hadn’t had a commitment, and I know firsthand that the organizers of the committee were just beginning, where they should have been in the winter,” Streeter said.

Streeter said he is still looking forward to next year’s event but will continue with some of the planned festivities that were scheduled for Aug. 11 – the day when cyclists would end the seventh-leg of an eight-leg tour to Boston.

Some of these events will include bicycle races near Holman Stadium sponsored by Goodale’s Bike Shop, SummerFun children’s events and live entertainment along with other activities.

Despite the squabble over who prompted the race’s postponement, everyone agrees that there is hope for an even better race in 2008.

“The bottom line is, I’m optimistic and even more optimistic now,” McLeod said. “And if we remember correctly why New Hampshire got into this event and why New England got into it and the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) granted the license, it was not just for the 2007 race. It was for a race that would have a longevity and impact on the cycling community and on the world community.”

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