Tour of California

Last updated

Tour of California
Tour of California-logo 2023.png
Race details
DateMay (Formerly in February)
Region California, United States
Discipline Road
Competition UCI World Tour
Type Stage race
Organiser AEG
Race director David Salzman
Web site www.amgentourofcalifornia.com OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
History
First edition 2006 (2006)
Editions14 (as of 2019)
First winnerFlag of the United States.svg  Floyd Landis  (USA)
Most winsFlag of the United States.svg  Levi Leipheimer  (USA) (3 times)
Most recentFlag of Slovenia.svg  Tadej Pogačar  (SLO)

The Tour of California (officially sponsored as the Amgen Tour of California) was an annual professional road cycling stage race on the UCI World Tour and USA Cycling Professional Tour that ran from 2006 to 2019. It was the only event on the top-level World Tour in the United States. The eight-day race covered 650–700 miles (1,045–1,126 km) through the U.S. state of California.

Contents

A typical edition might begin in the Sierra Nevada in northern California, travel through the Redwood forests, California's Wine Country and the Pacific Coast, and finish in southern California. The 2009 race crossed the Central Valley from Merced to Fresno, with an excursion through the Sierra Nevada foothills, before crossing over to the coast.

With eight or nine of the 20 UCI ProTour teams (known as ProTeams) usually racing, the Tour of California was one of the most important cycling races in the United States. 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 for races on the UCI Continental Circuits; the Tour of Utah is the only other 2.HC race as of 2019. On August 2, 2016, the UCI upgraded the race to World Tour status and added it to the 2017 UCI World Tour schedule. [1]

The race was originally staged in February, but the 2010 Tour of California was moved to May, the same time that the Giro d'Italia is held. [2] At the time of the move it was considered likely that the number of Americans in the Giro and Italians in the Tour of California would decrease. [3] Tour of California organizers sought to make the race a preparatory event for the Tour de France, believing few riders who seek a serious position in the Tour would ride the Giro. Since the change in schedule, the race continued to be held in May.

The tour was sponsored by Amgen, a California-based biotechnology company most famous for developing the anti anemia drug Erythropoietin (EPO), which has been used by professional cyclists in several blood doping scandals. No plans have been announced regarding if or when the tour will return. [4]

The start of the first leg of the 2010 race in Nevada City Tour of CA Nevada City.jpg
The start of the first leg of the 2010 race in Nevada City

General Classification Results

The leader and overall winner by time after each stage and at the conclusion of the race wore 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.

Year1st placeTeam2nd placeTeam3rd placeTeam
2006 Flag of the United States.svg  Floyd Landis  (USA) Phonak Flag of the United States.svg  David Zabriskie  (USA) [5] Team CSC Flag of the United States.svg  Bobby Julich  (USA) Team CSC
2007 Flag of the United States.svg  Levi Leipheimer  (USA) Discovery Channel Flag of Germany.svg  Jens Voigt  (GER) Team CSC Flag of the United States.svg  Jason McCartney  (USA) Discovery Channel
2008 Flag of the United States.svg  Levi Leipheimer  (USA) Astana Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  David Millar  (GBR) Slipstream–Chipotle Flag of the United States.svg  Christian Vande Velde  (USA) Slipstream–Chipotle
2009 Flag of the United States.svg  Levi Leipheimer  (USA) Astana Flag of the United States.svg  David Zabriskie  (USA) Garmin–Slipstream Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Michael Rogers  (AUS) Team Columbia–High Road
2010 Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Michael Rogers  (AUS) Team HTC–Columbia Flag of the United States.svg  David Zabriskie  (USA) Garmin–Transitions Flag of the United States.svg  Levi Leipheimer  (USA) Team RadioShack
2011 Flag of the United States.svg  Chris Horner  (USA) Team RadioShack Flag of the United States.svg  Levi Leipheimer  (USA) Team RadioShack Flag of the United States.svg  Tom Danielson  (USA) Garmin–Cervélo
2012 Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Robert Gesink  (NED) Rabobank Flag of the United States.svg  David Zabriskie  (USA) Garmin–Barracuda Flag of the United States.svg  Tom Danielson  (USA) Garmin–Barracuda
2013 Flag of the United States.svg  Tejay van Garderen  (USA) BMC Racing Team Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Michael Rogers  (AUS) Saxo–Tinkoff Flag of Colombia.svg  Janier Acevedo  (COL) Jamis–Hagens Berman
2014 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Bradley Wiggins  (GBR) Team Sky Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Rohan Dennis  (AUS) Garmin–Sharp Flag of the United States.svg  Lawson Craddock  (USA) Giant–Shimano
2015 Flag of Slovakia.svg  Peter Sagan  (SVK) Tinkoff–Saxo Flag of France.svg  Julian Alaphilippe  (FRA) Etixx–Quick-Step Flag of Colombia.svg  Sergio Henao  (COL) Team Sky
2016 Flag of France.svg  Julian Alaphilippe  (FRA) Etixx–Quick-Step Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Rohan Dennis  (AUS) BMC Racing Team Flag of the United States.svg  Brent Bookwalter  (USA) BMC Racing Team
2017 Flag of New Zealand.svg  George Bennett  (NZL) LottoNL–Jumbo Flag of Poland.svg  Rafał Majka  (POL) Bora–Hansgrohe Flag of the United States.svg  Andrew Talansky  (USA) Cannondale–Drapac
2018 Flag of Colombia.svg  Egan Bernal  (COL) Team Sky Flag of the United States.svg  Tejay van Garderen  (USA) BMC Racing Team Flag of Colombia.svg  Daniel Martínez  (COL) EF Education First–Drapac p/b Cannondale
2019 Flag of Slovenia.svg  Tadej Pogačar  (SLO) UAE Team Emirates Flag of Colombia.svg  Sergio Andrés Higuita García  (COL) EF Education First Flag of Denmark.svg  Kasper Asgreen  (DEN) Deceuninck–Quick-Step

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

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. Ben Wolfe and Evan Huffman both won the jersey twice during the 2017 race. No one else has won this jersey more than once.

Doping controversy

The main sponsor of the event, Amgen, is the producer of the medical drug Erythropoietin, also called EPO. EPO has been used as a performance-enhancing drug by professional cyclists. [6] Former professional cyclists who admitted their doping, such as Tyler Hamilton, claim that for some time most of the world's top cyclists used EPO. [7]

A plan to perform comprehensive anti-doping tests for the 2011 event was terminated by the UCI. [8] The plan was to do blood tests performed by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), which would have been able to detect EPO, but the UCI and the USADA couldn't agree on the details of the doping tests. For the 2013 edition, the UCI elected to reintroduce testing based on the biological passport, as USADA would also take care of pre-race testing, but with no cooperation between the two agencies. [9]

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References

  1. "UCI expands WorldTour to 37 events - CyclingNews.com". cyclingnews.com. August 2, 2016. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  2. "www.cyclingnews.com - the world centre of cycling". autobus.cyclingnews.com. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
  3. "California tour moves to May next year - VeloNews.com". velonews.com. May 6, 2009. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
  4. "Amgen Tour of California on 'Hiatus' for 2020 Season". October 30, 2019.
  5. "Acceptance of Sanction Zabriskie Executed" (PDF). Retrieved May 28, 2014.
  6. "FraudBytes: EPO and the Amgen Tour of California (A Flashback)". fraudbytes.blogspot.de. May 16, 2011. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
  7. "Tyler Hamilton speaks out about doping at Oxford Union". The Oxford Student. November 11, 2016.
  8. "USADA Out Of Tour Of California Testing | Cyclingnews.com". cyclingnews.com. May 14, 2011. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
  9. Daniel Benson (May 3, 2013). "Exclusive: UCI reintroduce biological passport testing at Tour of California". Cyclingnews.com . Future plc . Retrieved May 3, 2013.