Amgen Tour of California, 2010: Nevada City to Sacramento opening day, Solvang time trial out

October 21, 2:34 AMCycling ExaminerJames Raia

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Cycling Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Lance Armstrong during the Sacramento prologue of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.org

Race and various city officials aren't commenting, but it appears the 2010 Amgen Tour of California will start in Nevada City on May 16 with a road race to Sacramento, according to several cycling web sites and The Sacramento Bee.

Press conferences are scheduled Thursday in several pending race cities, including Sacramento, Modesto and Davis, for the official announcement of the fifth annual race.

The 2009 event. which featured the North American stage race comeback of seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, began with a prologue in Sacramento last February.

The eight-day race has been rescheduled to May next year to capitalize on better weather conditions. The first stage finish will mark Sacramento's fourth straight participation in the country's largest pro cycling event.

Levi Leipheimer of Santa Rosa, a four-time top-10 finisher in the Tour de France, has won the race the past three years. He's expected to defend his title for his new team RadioShack. The new squad was announced by Armstrong during the waning stages of this year's Tour de France.

Floyd Landis, the race inaugural winner in 2006, also made his return to stage racing in the 2009 event following a two-year doping suspension and loss of his Tour de France title.

Armstrong's participation in the 2010 Amgen Tour of California is uncertain. The Tour of Italy (Armstrong competed in the event of the first time in 2009) is also held in May. 

The announcement of next year's Amgen Tour of California was originally set for for several weeks ago. One prevailing but unconfirmed report is that an original city for the race withdrew, prompting race officials to quickly select a replacement city.

In addition to an opening-day road race from Nevada City to Sacramento, the pending route will take riders from Davis to Santa Rosa in stage 2. Santa Rosa has been included in the event every year.

One city that won't be involved in 2010 is Solvang. It's been the site of the race's popular individual time trial the past three years. But city officials earlier this week expressed disappointment in not being selected for next year's race while simultaneously touting their interest in the 2011 event.