Amgen Tour of California To Roll Into Pasadena

PASADENA, CA — Sixteen men's teams will embark next week on the nation's biggest bicycle race, scheduled to wind from northern California through mountain terrain to the Los Angeles Basin.

The week-long, 575-mile Amgen Tour of California will stretch from Sacramento to Pasadena, beginning next Sunday and continuing until May 20.

Sixteen women's teams will race from Thursday to next Sunday, with all four days of competition held in Northern California.

The race will enter Los Angeles County this year from Santa Barbara and Ojai on Wednesday. It will head east on U.S. 101 to Carpinteria, and veer over two mountain passes to swing through Ojai.

It will cross the Los Angeles County line on state Route 126 and the stage 4 finish line will be in Santa Clarita Wednesday afternoon.

On Thursday, riders start next to Ontario International Airport and head west on Fourth Street to Euclid Avenue, then north into Mount Baldy Canyon. Bikers will face a day of grueling climbs into the San Gabriel Mountains, accompanied by a series of speedy descents.

Racers will make a circuit on Friday as stage 6 starts at the Big Bear Ski Area and loops to Fawnskin, and then back to Big Bear.

Saturday's final stage 7 ends the contest with most of the racing being downhill.

It will start near Wrightwood, at the Mountain High Ski Area, and coast down the San Andreas Fault along Big Pines Highway, Angeles Forest Highway, Angeles Crest Highway on the way to the finish line in Pasadena.

City News Service; Image via Dingo Race Productions, LLC