Marking out from the outset that this year’s Amgen Tour of California will be the toughest yet, the first of three stages unveiled today will immediately thrust the riders into the high mountains. The event begins with a 118.7 mile (191 kilometre) race from South Lake Tahoe to Northstar at Tahoe Resort, circling the stunning lake one and a half times and crossing three major climbs.
At 6300 feet, the event begins with what is the highest ever route start for the Tour of California. It heads clockwise around the lake and climbs to Emerald Bay (6,850 feet), descents to Tahoe City, skirts the lakeshore, briefly heads outside California for the first time in the race’s history, entering Nevada, and climbs to the 7000 foot summit of Spooner Pass. From there it travels to the day’s final major climb, the 7,200 foot Brockway Summit, before heading to the uphill 1.5 mile drag up to the day’s finish.
Day two begins at the 1960 Winter Olympic site at North Lake Tahoe and covers 133.2 miles (214.4 km) to Sacramento. It’s one of the longest stages of the entire race and is expected to result in a big bunch finish. It features just one KOM, the 7,100 foot Donner’s Pass, travels through Nevada City and the Beale Air Force base, then concludes with two laps of a finishing circuit. The State Capitol building will proved a striking backdrop at the line.
Stage three from Auburn to Modest is even flatter, so endurance and speed will be much more important on the 121.9 mile (196.2 km) distance. After passing through Gold Country, the riders will fight it out in intermediate sprints at Lone and Oakdale, then race onward to the finish location where they will complete two finishing laps.
More details of this year’s route will be revealed this Thursday and Friday. Former world time trial champion Michael Rogers HTC-Columbia) was the overall victor last year, beating Americans Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Transitions) and Levi Leipheimer (Team RadioShack) by nine and 25 seconds respectively. He is racing with Team Sky this season.