FEBRUARY 12TH UPDATE!  Tour route announcement today!  Visit www.amgentourconejo.org for a tour map, description and more info! But in a nutshell, it is a 4 lap, 83.5 mile circuit race that starts on Townsgate Road between Westlake Blvd and Lakeview Canyon (basically Townsgate at Village Glen). The race starts at 12:40 pm on May 23rd and heads east on Townsgate, continuing east on Agoura Road to Cornell and heads south for about 4 miles.  Then they head west on Mulholland for 9 miles until Mulholland intersects the curvy Westlake Boulevard (technically I believe this is Malibu).  Then back to Townsgate for 3 more loops!!  Wow, this should be a GREAT RACE!! The race should finish around 3:40 pm.  Mark your calendars!!

Nice tour video from the tour organizers:

The 5th Annual Amgen Tour of California will take place over eight days, May 16th through 23rd, 2010.  The BIG NEWS this year is that for the first time since the inaugural running of the event in 2006, the Conejo Valley cities of Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village and Thousand Oaks were chosen to host this 750 mile event...better yet, the FINAL STAGE!  This final stage will take place on Sunday, May 23rd.

And some other BIG news!  Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong will compete in the 2010 Amgen Tour of California, along with other top U.S. cyclists Levi Leipheimer (who has a three-year overall win streak at the Tour of California), Dave Zabriskie (2nd in last year's race) and George Hincapie (13-time finisher of the Tour de France).

And another first...Los Angeles for the first time will host the individual time trial stage 7 of the event on Saturday, May 22nd.

The Amgen Tour of California is the most successful cycling race in America and I'm sure we will see HUGE CROWDS the day of the event!  Last year's event drew 2 million spectators.

Race organizers indicate there will be a free Lifestyle Festival in each finish city of the event with family friendly activities, demonstrations and cycling displays.

The race stages and 16 cities involved with the 2010 events are:

Stage 1: Sunday, May 16 – Nevada City to Sacramento

Stage 2: Monday, May 17 – Davis to Santa Rosa

Stage 3: Tuesday, May 18 – San Francisco to Santa Cruz

Stage 4: Wednesday, May 19 – San Jose to Modesto

Stage 5: Thursday, May 20 – Visalia to Bakersfield

Stage 6: Friday, May 21 – Pasadena to Big Bear Lake

Stage 7: Saturday, May 22 – Los Angeles (individual time trial)

Stage 8: Sunday, May 23 – Thousand Oaks/Westlake Village/Agoura Hills

Route details for each stage available at www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/Route/stages.html. 

For more about the event, visit www.amgentourofcalifornia.com.