Tour of California

Tour of California

2012 Tour of California
Race details
Date	May (Formerly in February)
Region	California, USA. (North America)
Discipline	Road
Competition	UCI America Tour 2.HC
Type	Stage race
Organiser	AEG
History
First edition	2006 (2006)
Editions	7 (as of 2012)
First winner	Floyd Landis (USA)
Most wins	Levi Leipheimer (USA) (3 wins)
Most recent	Robert Gesink (NED)

The Tour of California (Amgen Tour of California) is an annual professional cycling stage race on the UCI America Tour and USA Cycling Professional Tour. It began on February 19, 2006. The eight-day race covers 650–700 miles (1,045 - 1,126 km) through California. A typical edition might begin in Nevada City, travel through the redwoods, wine country and the Pacific Coast, and finish in a southern California city such as Escondido. The 2009 race crossed the Central Valley from Merced to Fresno, with an excursion through the Sierra Nevada foothills, before crossing to the coast. The tour is sponsored by Amgen, a large California-based biotech company.

With eight or nine of the 20 UCI ProTour teams (known as ProTeams) usually racing, the Tour of California is the most important cycling race in the United States since the demise of the Coors Classic in 1988. On November 28, 2006, the UCI upgraded it from 2.1 (category 1) to 2.HC (French: Hors categorie; English: beyond category), the highest rating and one of only three such stage races in the United States. Neither of the other two races, the Tour de Georgia and the Tour of Missouri, have been held since 2009, leaving the Tour of California as the United States' only UCI 2.HC race in 2010.

In 2010, the 2010 Tour of California moved from February to May (May 16–23), the same time as the Giro d'Italia.^[1] It is considered likely that the number of Americans in the Giro and Italians in the Tour of California will decrease.^[2] Tour of California organizers seek to make the race a preparatory event for the Tour de France, believing few riders who seek a serious position in the Tour will ride the Giro. The race remained in May in 2011 and 2012.

General Classification Results

The leader and overall winner by time after each stage and at the conclusion of the race wears a Yellow Jersey. Originally the leader's jersey was gold, a reference to the California Gold Rush, but in 2009 the jersey color was changed to yellow.

Year	1st place	team	2nd place	team	3rd place	team
2006	Floyd Landis (USA)	Phonak	David Zabriskie (USA)	Team CSC	Bobby Julich (USA)	Team CSC
2007	Levi Leipheimer (USA)	Discovery Channel	Jens Voigt (GER)	Team CSC	Jason McCartney (USA)	Discovery Channel
2008	Levi Leipheimer (USA)	Astana	David Millar (GBR)	Slipstream-Chipotle	Christian Vande Velde (USA)	Slipstream-Chipotle
2009	Levi Leipheimer (USA)	Astana	David Zabriskie (USA)	Garmin-Slipstream	Michael Rogers (AUS)	Team Columbia-High Road
2010	Michael Rogers (AUS)	Team HTC-Columbia	David Zabriskie (USA)	Garmin-Transitions	Levi Leipheimer (USA)	Team RadioShack
2011	Chris Horner (USA)	Team RadioShack	Levi Leipheimer (USA)	Team RadioShack	Tom Danielson (USA)	Garmin-Cervélo
2012	Robert Gesink (NED)	Rabobank	David Zabriskie (USA)	Garmin-Barracuda	Tom Danielson (USA)	Garmin-Barracuda

Records and Jerseys

Sprints Classification

The leader and overall winner by points from intermediate and final sprints wears the Green Jersey.

Mountains Classification

The leader and overall winner by points in mountain climbs is awarded the Red Jersey (Orange in the past, before 2009) and is known as the race's King of the Mountains or "KOM."

Best Young Rider Classification

The leader and overall winner by time for riders under 23 is awarded the White Jersey. Before 2009, this jersey was silver and blue.

Teams Classification

Teams are classified based on the total time of the team's top three finishers in each stage.

Best Team Winners 2006 : Team CSC 2007 : Team CSC 2008 : Slipstream-Chipotle 2009 : Astana 2010 : Garmin-Transitions 2011 : Garmin-Cervélo 2012 : RadioShack-Nissan-Trek Most Courageous Rider Classification The Blue Jersey is given to the most courageous rider at the end of each stage. In 2008, the jersey was red. George Hincapie has won this jersey three times, after stages in 2008, 2009 and 2010. Jan Bárta won the award twice during the 2011 edition. No one else has won this jersey more than once. References ^ http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2009/may09/may06news2 ^ http://www.velonews.com/article/91658/california-tour-moves-to-may-next-year/ External links Official website Amgen Tour of California on Facebook Amgen Tour of California on Twitter Amgen Tour of California: No more dreamin' - VeloNews.com Embeddable Stage Maps, Elevation Profiles and Media Tools MapMyRide.com Tour of California, live coverage, videos and photos: Cyclingfans.com AMGEN Tour of California Live Dashboard Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tour of California v t e Tour of California 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 v t e The Anschutz Corporation Anschutz Entertainment Group AEG Live festivals Coachella Edgefest Hootenanny Mile High Music Festival New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival Rockfest Rocklahoma RockNess Rock on the Range Sonisphere Stagecoach SunFest Wakestock (Wales) AEG Sports Bay to Breakers Djurgårdens IF Hockey (12%) Eisbären Berlin Golden Boy Promotions (part owner) Hamburg Freezers Hammarby IF (49%) The Home Depot Center Houston Dynamo (50%) Los Angeles Galaxy Los Angeles Kings Los Angeles Lakers (part owner) Manchester Monarchs Ontario Reign Reading Royals Tour of California Anschutz Film Group Bristol Bay Productions Walden Media Clarity Media Group Examiner.com The Washington Examiner The Weekly Standard The Oklahoma Publishing Co. The Broadmoor De Wafelbakkers Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway The Oklahoman Pavestone Xanterra Parks and Resorts Furnace Creek Inn and Ranch Resort Grand Canyon Railway Kingsmill Resort Windstar Cruises Other subsidiaries Anschutz Exploration Corporation Anschutz Investment Company Ken Ehrlich Productions National CineMedia (ownership stake) Power Company of Wyoming Regal Entertainment Group (majority stake)