|
The 2009 Amgen Tour of California was the 4th running of an annual cycling race contained within the state of California. The event was staged February 14–22 and began with a prologue in the state capital of Sacramento. The event was held as part of the schedule of both the UCI America Tour and USA Cycling Professional Tour. The race was won by Levi Leipheimer for the third consecutive year. ==Race details== The Fourth Tour of California covered nine days and , starting with a flat prologue near the California State Capitol in Sacramento on February 14, 2009.〔 Drawing many of the top cyclists from around the world, the Tour of California generated an estimated revenue of $100 million for the state of California.〔 The team included two-time returning champion Levi Leipheimer, and seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong.〔 The 2006 champion, Floyd Landis returned, riding for . Tour organizers have switched the route from year to year, hoping to reach out to fans in different parts of the state and maintain the challenge of the race. Santa Cruz, one of the cities added for the 2009 running, expected added costs of $100,000 to cover public services and accommodations for lodging and meals for the cycling teams, and was expecting 250,000 fans to attend the end of Stage 2. The sales and hotel taxes generated by drawing tourists at a traditionally slow time of the year were expected to help recover the costs of hosting the event.〔Staff. ("Lance Armstrong to ride in Amgen, which stops in Santa Cruz" ), ''San Jose Mercury News'', 25 September 2008. Accessed 26 January 2009.〕 Stage 2 also took the peloton across the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time in the tour's history.〔Staff. ("SAN JOSE STAGE REVERSES COURSE FOR 2009 TOUR OF CALIFORNIA" ), ''San Jose Mercury News'', 24 July 2008. Accessed 26 January 2009. "The tour has revamped an 800-mile course that will cross the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time."〕 In another first, Stage 4 includes an excursion through the Central Valley and the Sierra Nevada foothills, starting in Merced, then passing through the foothill towns of Mariposa and Oakhurst, and finishing in Clovis (adjacent to Fresno). The tour organizers tried to integrate climbing into nearly every day's stage; only the prologue, time trial and Stage 5 — the tour's longest at — had no climbs. The 2009 Tour features at least one King of the Mountain summit on each other stage, with the Tour's technical director proclaiming that the difficult climbs in the course they designed having the potential to have the leader change on a daily basis.〔 The eighth stage alone, the last of the tour, stretching nearly from Rancho Bernardo to Escondido featured four King of the Mountain summits including a climb of Palomar Mountain, home of the Palomar Observatory, which runs for , climbing at an average grade of 7%, with 21 switchbacks on the mountain that reaches an elevation of .〔Giesin, Dan. ("Tour of California returning to San Francisco" ), ''San Francisco Chronicle'', 5 December 2008. Accessed 26 January 2009.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「2009 Tour of California」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|