Race details | |
---|---|
Date | May (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 |
History | |
First edition | 2006 |
Editions | 14 (as of 2019) |
First winner | Floyd Landis (USA) |
Most wins | Levi Leipheimer (USA) (3 times) |
Most recent | 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.
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 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.
Most Stage Victories
| Most Days in Leader's Jersey
|
The leader and overall winner by points from intermediate and final sprints wears the Green Jersey.
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."
KOM Winners
| Most Days in Mountains Jersey
|
The leader and overall winner by time for riders under 23 is awarded the White Jersey. Before 2009, this jersey was silver and blue.
Best Young Rider Winners
| Most Days in Youth Jersey
|
Teams are classified based on the total time of the team's top three finishers in each stage.
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.
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]
Tyler Hamilton is an American former professional road bicycle racer. He is the only American rider to win one of the five Monuments of cycling, taking Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2003. Hamilton became a professional cyclist in 1995 with the US Postal Service cycling team. He was a teammate of Lance Armstrong during the 1999, 2000 and 2001 Tours de France, where Armstrong won the general classification. He was a key asset for Armstrong, being a very good climber as well as time-trialist. Hamilton appeared at the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics. In 2004, he won a gold medal at the individual time trial. The first doping test after his Olympic victory gave a positive result, but because the backup sample was frozen, no doping offence could be proven. After he failed further doping tests at the 2004 Vuelta a España, Hamilton was suspended for two years from the sport.
Bjarne Lykkegård Riis, nicknamed The Eagle from Herning, is a Danish former professional road bicycle racer who placed first in the 1996 Tour de France. For many years he was the owner and later manager of the Oleg Tinkov associated Russian UCI WorldTeam Tinkoff–Saxo. Other career highlights include placing first in the Amstel Gold Race in 1997, multiple Danish National Championships, and stage wins in the Giro d'Italia. On 25 May 2007, he admitted that he placed first in the Tour de France using banned substances, and he was no longer considered the winner by the Tour's organizers. In July 2008, the Tour reconfirmed his victory but with an asterisk label to indicate his doping offences.
Astana Qazaqstan Team is a professional road bicycle racing team sponsored by the Samruk-Kazyna, a coalition of state-owned companies from Kazakhstan and named after its capital city Astana. Astana attained UCI ProTeam status in its inaugural year, 2007. Following a major doping scandal involving Kazakh rider Alexander Vinokourov, team management was terminated and new management brought in for the 2008 season. The team was then managed by Johan Bruyneel, former team manager of U.S. Postal/Discovery Channel team. Under Bruyneel the ethical nature of the team did not improve, although Astana in this period was very successful.
Danilo Di Luca is a former Italian professional road racing cyclist, best known for winning the 2007 Giro d'Italia, but also for several positive doping tests, the last of which resulting in a lifetime ban from the sport.
Levi Leipheimer is an American former professional road racing cyclist. He was twice US national champion, winning the time trial title in 1999 and the road race in 2007, and is an Olympic medalist. Leipheimer was born and raised in Butte, Montana and resides in Santa Rosa, California. He is the patron of the widely attended King Ridge GranFondo, a mass participation ride in Sonoma County.
Kevin Livingston is an American former professional cyclist.
Francisco "Frankie" Andreu is an American former professional cyclist whose career highlights include riding as team captain of the U.S. Postal Service cycling team in 1998, 1999 and 2000. During his career, he won a number of race stages and finished fourth in the cycling road race at the 1996 Olympics. His testimony played a key part in the United States Anti-Doping Agency's investigation of fellow U.S. Postal cyclist Lance Armstrong's doping practices.
Thomas Dekker is a Dutch former professional road racing cyclist. His career highlights included winning Tirreno–Adriatico in 2006 and Tour de Romandie in 2007. He won two Dutch National Time Trial Championships and represented his country at the 2004 Summer Olympics held in Athens, Greece.
Stefan Schumacher is a German former professional road racing cyclist. Schumacher won the bronze medal in the road race at the 2007 UCI Road World Championships, two stages in the 2006 Giro d'Italia and two stages in the 2008 Tour de France. After positive results on doping products in the 2008 Tour de France and the 2008 Summer Olympics, he received a suspension for two years, later reduced by some months. After his suspension, he came back as a professional cyclist before retiring in 2017.
Eric Ryder Hesjedal is a Canadian retired professional racing cyclist who competed in mountain biking and road racing between 1998 and 2016. Hesjedal won a silver medal at the 1998 Junior, 2001 Under-23, and Elite world championship in mountain biking. He turned professional with U.S. Postal Service in 2004 after several years with the Rabobank continental team. Having previously finished in fifth place at the 2010 Tour de France, Hesjedal won his first and only Grand Tour at the 2012 Giro d'Italia, the first Grand Tour win by a Canadian. Other major wins include two stages at the Vuelta a España, the first such stage wins by a Canadian.
Riccardo Riccò is an Italian professional road bicycle racer, who is suspended from all competition until 2024. He was previously ejected from the 2008 Tour de France for doping violations and suspended. Riccò returned to competition in late 2010, but in February 2011 he was fired by his team, Vacansoleil–DCM, after he became seriously ill allegedly through a self-administered autologous blood transfusion. He then signed to UCI Continental team Meridiana–Kamen.
Robert Gesink is a Dutch professional cyclist, who rides for UCI WorldTeam Visma–Lease a Bike. His major victories include the 2012 Tour of California, the 2011 Tour of Oman and the 2010 Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal. Gesink also won the Giro dell'Emilia twice and offered some good performances on Grand Tours and one-week stage races, thanks in part to his climbing and time trialing abilities.
Giampaolo Caruso is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2002 and 2015 for the Würth, Lampre–Fondital, LPR Brakes–Ballan, Ceramica Flaminia and Team Katusha squads.
The 2009 Tour de France was the 96th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started on 4 July in the principality of Monaco with a 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) individual time trial which included a section of the Circuit de Monaco. The race visited six countries: Monaco, France, Spain, Andorra, Switzerland and Italy, and finished on 26 July on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.
Mauro Santambrogio is a former Italian professional road racing cyclist, who last rode for UCI Continental team Amore & Vita–Selle SMP.
Katusha–Alpecin was a Russian road bicycle racing team which competed at the UCI WorldTeam level using Canyon bikes. The team was created in 2008 by Igor Makarov, an ex-professional cyclist and entrepreneur. In 2017 the team took a broader international direction, still supported by Igor Makarov's company ARETI International Group, Swiss clothing company Katusha Sports and German shampoo manufacturer Alpecin. The team competed as a UCI ProTeam/WorldTour team between 2009 and 2019. Joaquim Rodríguez, Alexander Kristoff, Daniel Moreno, Simon Špilak, Filippo Pozzato, Luca Paolini, Ilnur Zakarin and Tony Martin are some of the most successful riders who rode for Katusha.
Phil Zajicek is an American ex-professional road racing cyclist who last rode professionally for the Fly V Australia Team in 2010. On June 10, 2011, the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced that Zajicek had accepted a life-ban from competition.
Salvatore Puccio is an Italian racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Ineos Grenadiers.
Jarlinson Pantano Gómez is a Colombian racing cyclist, Fotheringham, Alasdair. "Jarlinson Pantano makes surprise return to racing after four-year doping ban". Cyclingnews.com. Future plc. Retrieved 2 July 2023.</ref> Pantano previously rode professionally between 2012 and 2019 for the Colombia, IAM Cycling and Trek–Segafredo teams, before he was suspended for four years after a positive drugs test for erythropoietin (EPO).