Tucson Standard

A new mural by Tucson artist Joe Pagac commemorating the El Tour de Tucson cycling race is set to be completed before the event begins on Nov. 19.

According to a story by KGUN, the mural will be visible downtown from the courtyard of The Monica at 40 E. Congress St. It is being painted by Pagac, who has been working with El Tour de Tucson for six years on various projects. The mural will be funded by Tucson Medical Center, an El Tour de Tucson sponsor. Pagac said he took inspiration from publicity flyers for another famous cycling race.

"I really like a lot of the French posters for cycling and stuff from 100 years ago," he said in the story, "So this year, this was the theme we came up with, and I looked at a whole bunch of old French posters and kinda took inspiration from some of them."

In addition to cyclists, viewers will see other, more Arizona-centric characters in the mural. Pagac said he "tried to kinda like filter it down into something more Tucson, so I got the saguaros in there and the mountains. But it still has that old vintage feel."

Pagac has envisioned designs and themes for the race's jerseys for the past few years, and he also contributed to another El Tour de Tucson mural at Alameda Street and Church Avenue, the story said.