Amgen Tour of California (May 15-22) - pre race chat

RonB
RonB Posts: 3,984
edited May 2016 in Pro race
Starting on Sunday 15th May this years race will start in San Diego and work its way up the Pacific coast to Monterey County on Wednesday 18th. Thursday sees the start of the women's race, and the routes sort of join up after that with a short time trial around Folsom along the way. Sacramento hosts the final stage with what promises to be a sprinters circuit finish around the city centre on Sunday 22nd.

Looking at the profiles, S3 looks to be a decisive one for the GC contenders, with a HC hill top finish called Gibraltar Road (12km at 8%).

route-map-640.jpg

Current startlist - men

Current startlist - women

In terms of TV coverage I'm not sure, but I think Eurosport will be live from 2200 hrs BST each day.

Comments

  • dish_dash
    dish_dash Posts: 5,551
    Curious that Garmindale are putting Craddock as their GC man with Talansky on the team as domestique...

    Also, Degenkolb's riding this. Hope his recovery is going well...
  • RonB
    RonB Posts: 3,984
    BMC have a strong team out as well this year, with Van Avermaet returning to racing after breaking his collarbone at Flanders. Rohan Dennis must be one of the favourites for the overall and they have Sammy Sanchez, Wyss, Drucker for the sprints and from the US, Phinney and Bookwalter who will be looking to do well on home soil.
  • ShutupJens
    ShutupJens Posts: 1,373
    Expect to see some photos from the opening stage Ron!
  • thchris1958
    thchris1958 Posts: 117
    for the last two editions, I watched the race via their website. With TourTracker, on one screen, you have the images of the race, the stage profile and position of the riders, the names of the riders who may be in a breakaway, informations about the area and what is happening in the race. I look at the Tour of Utah and Tour of Alberta this way also. To date, there has never been a restriction with geolocation .

    http://tourtracker.amgentourofcalifornia.com/
  • RonB
    RonB Posts: 3,984
    Bittersweet news from Team Sky - Swift out, Kiryienka in.
  • inseine
    inseine Posts: 5,786
    According to cycling news, Wiggins is 'hands down favourite'. Really?
  • adr82
    adr82 Posts: 4,002
    inseine wrote:
    According to cycling news, Wiggins is 'hands down favourite'. Really?
    We can only assume they forgot to add the last part of the sentence. I'm guessing it was something like "to ride around like he can't be arsed" or "to go home early"...
  • takethehighroad
    takethehighroad Posts: 6,599
    I'd be interested to see the link to that, as I've generally read them (rightly) dismissing his GC chances
  • joelsim
    joelsim Posts: 7,552
    inseine wrote:
    According to cycling news, Wiggins is 'hands down favourite'. Really?

    Wiggins is hands down only there to promote his team.

    If anyone thinks he will do anything aside from riding at the back for a few stages and then abandoning then they are deluded.
  • Turfle
    Turfle Posts: 3,762
    I do enjoy a bit of evening cycling watching, even though the racing is rarely that good. Parcours looks good this year.
  • inseine
    inseine Posts: 5,786
    I'd be interested to see the link to that, as I've generally read them (rightly) dismissing his GC chances
    My mistake, they are just talking the TT stage. Still...
    Folsom hosts the stage 6 time trial on the same course where Wiggins won in 2014 ahead of Dennis and Taylor Phinney. On Friday, Wiggins downplayed his chances to repeat the win there, saying he hadn’t ridden his time trial bike in 14 months. But the 2012 Olympic time trial champion and Tour de France winner remains the hands-down favourite.
  • awavey
    awavey Posts: 2,368
    Joelsim wrote:
    inseine wrote:
    According to cycling news, Wiggins is 'hands down favourite'. Really?

    Wiggins is hands down only there to promote his team.

    If anyone thinks he will do anything aside from riding at the back for a few stages and then abandoning then they are deluded.

    Wiggo was quoted in the Sun (yeah I know but its Newscorp so prob an accurate quote) that he's 12kg heavier compared to the other roadies & from when he last did the race, and is just going to be working on his tan. honest at least, but Id presume he's been paid an appearance fee to turn up.