A world class field will make its way from Europe to California for the 2011 Amgen Tour of California, scheduled from May 15-22. The sixth edition of the race in the Pacific state sees top stage racers like last year' Tour de France runner-up Andy Schleck or three-time Tour of California winner Levi Leipheimer. The May slot promises good weather and contested high mountain stages for some exciting racing.
The organizer, AEG Sports, is quite pleased with the current start list that each of the 18 teams has sent so far. "The preliminary rosters for the 2011 Amgen Tour of California once again feature some of the top talent in the world," said Andrew Messick, president of AEG Sports. "The caliber of riders participating this year will create a challenging race and a fierce competition starting on Sunday."
In four days, the peloton will set off from Lake Tahoe in an area that is known for amazing skiing in the winter and beautiful biking and hiking in the summer. After 800 miles and one week, the race will end in Thousand Oaks, location of the main sponsor's headquarters.
The American teams RadioShack, HTC Highroad, Garmin-Cervélo, and BMC are some of the best teams in the world, but they will face stiff competition from international squads, such as Saxo Bank Sungard, Leopard Trek, Sky, Liquigas, or Rabobank. Added to this are a number of professional continental teams from around the world. Team Type 1 will be especially motivated at home, after making a strong impact in Europe this season. They justified race entries to events like the Tour of Turkey, which its rider Alexander Efimkin won.
There are a number of Tour de France stage winners at the start, including George Hincapie (BMC), David Zabriskie, Thor Hushovd (both Garmin-Cervélo), or Oscar Freire (Rabobank). No less than seven World Champions are scheduled to race in California: Hushovd, Freire, Taylor Phinney (BMC), Lars Boom and Michael Matthews (Rabobank), Matthew Goss and Danny Pate (HTC Highroad).
The spectators will also have the opportunity to see some of the beautiful National Champion jerseys, from Luxembourg's Andy Schleck, Norwegian's Thor Hushovd and Sweden's Gustaf Erik Larsson to the United States Champion Taylor Phinney. Other Americans who will participate include Chris Horner, Christian Vandevelde and Jeff Louder.
A damper on the strong start list is that defending champion Michael Rogers, who now rides for Team Sky, will miss the event due to illness. "It's a great disappointment to be missing the chance to defend my title at the Amgen Tour of California," he said. "It is one of my favorite races with some fantastic support and I wish the organizers the very best of luck for next week."
Rogers has been sidelined for some time now. "Unfortunately, I have missed the last few weeks due to a virus. Fortunately I am back on the bike training and on course to regaining full fitness, however the Amgen Tour of California has come a just a bit too soon for me."
So it is Bavaria instead of California for the Australian. "I expect to be back racing at the Bayern-Rundfahrt in a couple of weeks' time."
The organizer would have loved to see Rogers duel with Leipheimer and the others, but fully understand the situation. "We are disappointed that Michael Rogers will not be able to defend his title this year, but we wish him a full and speedy recovery," said Messick.
Stages for the 2011 Amgen Tour of California:
* Stage 1: Sunday, May 15 – South Lake Tahoe to North Lake Tahoe-Northstar at Tahoe Resort
* Stage 2: Monday, May 16 – North Lake Tahoe-Squaw Valley USA to Sacramento
* Stage 3: Tuesday, May 17 – Auburn to Modesto
* Stage 4: Wednesday, May 18 – Livermore to San Jose
* Stage 5: Thursday, May 19 – Seaside to Paso Robles
* Stage 6: Friday, May 20 – Solvang Individual Time Trial
* Stage 7: Saturday, May 21 – Claremont to Mt. Baldy
* Stage 8: Sunday, May 22 – Santa Clarita to Thousand Oaks