Now one of the longest-running international stage races in U.S. history, the Amgen Tour of California celebrates its 10th edition when it kicks off on Sunday in Sacramento.
Launched in 2005 and first held in February 2006, the UCI-ranked 2.HC race is one of the most important stage races in the history of American cycling. For context, the Red Zinger/Coors Classic of the 1970s and '80s spanned 14 editions, while the Tour de Trump/Tour DuPont of the 1990s covered eight editions.
This year's Amgen Tour route travels over 700 miles in eight stages, winding through 13 host cities, starting in the state capitol of Sacramento and ending a week later in Pasadena, at the Rose Bowl Stadium.
And while the Amgen Tour has hosted women's events every year since 2008 -- usually one-off downtown criteriums or time trials -- for the first time, the event will host a three-stage women's race in 2015.
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The GC riders: Last year's winner, Bradley Wiggins, will not be returning to defend his title. However, Wiggins' former squad, Team Sky, comes to California poised to make it two-for-two, this time with climber Sergio Henao.
The 27-year-old Colombian recently finished seventh at both Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege, and was second overall to Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) at the Tour of the Basque Country in early April.
The British squad is sending a stellar lineup to support Henao, including Philip Deignan, Xabier Zandio, Pete Kennaugh, Christian Knees, Danny Pate and Ian Boswell. Injured sprinter Ben Swift, who was set to race in California, will require shoulder surgery after a crash on the opening stage of the Tour de Yorkshire.
In addition to Wiggins, several other former winners will be absent. Tejay van Garderen (2013 winner) and Michael Rogers (Tinkoff-Saxo, 2010 winner) are still active in the pro peloton, but are not participating. The upstart Airgas-Safeway team of 2011 winner Chris Horner was not invited to compete.
There will be just one former winner in this year's race: 2012 champion Robert Gesink of Team LottoNL-Jumbo. Gesink has struggled a bit since having heart surgery last year, but he has always performed well in California, winning the best young rider's competition on three occasions.
And though anything can happen on any given day in pro bike racing, the key stages for the overall classification look to be the 15-mile time trial in Big Bear Lake on Stage 6, and the summit finish on Mt. Baldy in Stage 7 the following day. Baldy returns after a two-year hiatus, and it's once again extremely likely the winner of the Amgen Tour will be decided on the final 15 switchbacks to the finish line there.
The Amgen Tour stacks the Baldy climb on top of the nine-mile climb up Glendora Mountain Road -- a climb that is used as an uphill time trial for the San Dimas Stage Race -- followed by 12 miles of twisting, uphill traverse back up Glendora Ridge Road. There's only a brief respite before hitting the switchbacks of Mt. Baldy Road; in sum, from the bottom of Glendora Mountain Road, across Glendora Ridge, and up to the Mt. Baldy Ski Area, it's a 26-mile slog, with 5,300 feet of elevation gain and very little flat or downhill.
Baldy was first introduced to the Amgen Tour in 2011. Levi Leipheimer won that stage, crossing the line alongside Horner, his RadioShack teammate, who secured the overall victory. The following year, Gesink won the stage, took the leader's jersey, and held it through the finish.
American Joe Dombrowski holds the Strava king of the mountain on the 7K climb from Baldy Village to the ski area, a time of 22:51 set during the 2012 Amgen Tour, though he finished that stage 18 seconds slower than Gesink and Colombian Darwin Atapuma. In 2014, Dombrowski rode in support of Wiggins on the pivotal climbs of the Tour of California; this year, he will ride as captain of his new Cannondale-Garmin squad.
Along with Henao, Gesink, and Dombrowski, other key GC contenders include Warren Barguil (Giant-Alpecin), Janez Brajkovic (UnitedHealthcare), recent Redlands Classic winner Phil Gaimon (Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies), and perhaps young Australian climber Lachlan Morton (Jelly Belly).
Another rider to watch will be Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-Quick-Step). The 22-year-old Frenchman was the revelation of the Ardennes Classics, taking seventh in the Amstel Gold Race, second in Fleche Wallonne, and second at Liege-Bastogne-Liege -- his first attempt at those races. Following the Ardennes, Alaphilippe also finished in the top-three on a pair of stages at the Tour de Romandie. This will be his first attempt at the California tour, but if his recent string of results is any indication, Alaphilippe could well pull off a major performance on Baldy.
Rider to watch: Canadian Michael Woods of Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies is enjoying a breakthrough season, with victories on mountainous days at the Tour of the Gila and the one-day Clássica Internacional Loulé in Portugal. He also finished fifth on the mountain stage of the Volta ao Algarve, just seconds behind riders like Richie Porte, Michal Kwiatkowski, Jon Izagirre, and Geraint Thomas.
The sprinters: On stages that aren't pivotal to the GC, Mark Cavendish (Etixx-Quick-Step) will look to add to his total of five career stage wins in California, and based on his recent wins at the Tour of Turkey -- and with Mark Renshaw, Gianni Meersman, and Stijn Vandenbergh providing a dominant lead-out train -- the former world champion should be the man to beat in the field sprints.
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