It’s no big news that the AMGEN Tour of California has decided not to include the Sierra leg this year but with the bicycle race starting in just a few weeks it seems the perfect time to beat a dead horse.
In what can hardly be termed a “tour” of anything, participants in the Tour of California will compete in 8 separate legs of the race being shuttled by van from leg to leg.
The first stage of the race begins in Nevada City on Sunday May 16th at 11:45am and finishes in Sacramento between 3:30pm – 4:00pm before riders are shuttled to Davis for the second stage of the race.
The second stage begins in Davis at 11:00am Monday the 17th of May and ends in Santa Rosa between 3:00pm and 3:40pm.
Stage 3 begins in San Francisco on Tuesday May 18th at 11:15am and follows Highway 1 ending in Santa Cruz around 4:00pm.
Stage 4 begins in San Jose at 11:00am on May 19th (Wednesday) and ends in Modesto from 3:30pm – 4:00pm.
At this point last year riders began the Sierra leg of the Tour. This year, however, riders will skip the Sierra and begin Stage 5 from Visalia (10:45am Thursday May 20) to Bakersfield ending between 3:00pm – 4:00pm.
For Stage 6 riders will ride from Palmdale on the 21th (Friday) to Big Bear and finish the stage from 2:50pm – 3:50pm.
Stage 7 is an individual time trial around L.A. starting at 1:00pm and concluding at 4:15pm and Stage 8 is a circuit race in Thousand Oaks/Westlake Village and Agoura Hills from 12:30pm with the first rider expected in around 3:40pm.
Now that I’ve whined and moaned about the race not coming to the Yosemite region this year I urge you to go check it out. I can remember a time when we didn’t have really cool events like the Tour of California and by supporting the events and the riders you’ll help keep them coming back. That and you might get a chance to see Lance Armstrong. He just introduced a new Trek bike for his LiveStrong Foundation that he’ll be riding in the tour.