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The South Australian event, which took place from 22 – 27 January, attracted record numbers of visitors and record media coverage. The statistics have just been released by the Australian authorities.

According to the South Australian police, 548’000 spectators lined the roads during the event, representing a 53.5% increase on the previous year’s crowd figures of 357’000. Of those spectators, 15’100 were tourists who traveled to South Australia specifically for the Tour Down Under.

The entire world watched 84 hours of broadcast television programming, compared with 71.20 hours in 2007. To date, 618 media articles have been published on line, 362 more than last year.

The 2008 Tour Down Under was the tenth edition of the race. In receiving a four-year ProTour license, it became the first non-European event to be included on the UCI ProTour calendar.