steephill

The organizers probably couldn't have picked a worse time to announce this year's route, but here it is. Other than moving the prologue from SF to Palto Alto and finishing with a road race in Pasadena, it's pretty much the same as last year:

Prologue: Sunday, Feb. 17 - Palo Alto
Stage 1: Monday, Feb. 18 - Sausalito to Santa Rosa
Stage 2: Tuesday, Feb. 19 - Santa Rosa to Sacramento
Stage 3: Wednesday, Feb. 20 - Modesto to San Jose
Stage 4: Thursday, Feb. 21 - Seaside to San Luis Obispo
Stage 5: Friday, Feb. 22 - Solvang time trial
Stage 6: Saturday, Feb. 23 - Santa Barbara to Santa Clarita
Stage 7: Sunday, Feb. 24 - Santa Clarita to Pasadena road race, concluding with a circuit race in Pasadena

The press release

UmneyDurak

I guess too many spoiled brats whined in SF, so they are moving a prologue?

Chucklehead

finishing in pasadena instead of on the coast is not pretty much the same as last year what are they thinking? and i thought they were supposed to expand?

uspspro

damnit... they need to hit up the Sierra. There are climbs there that rival those in the grand tours of Europe.

Pizza Man

Who was whining?
Now I can get in a few more miles that day and ride down to Palo Alto.

I don't mind them skipping SF, but I wish they would mix up the other stages a bit more.

They need to add more hills. Just 1 mountain top finish would be nice. Why not finish at the top of Hamilton?

caloso

Hmm. Glad we're on the list again but disappointed we didn't get a finish/start like Santa Rosa and Santa Clarita.

I'm telling you, though, they are totally missing the boat by not having a mountain top finish on Mt. Diablo.

uspspro

I'll definitely ride down to Palo Alto to check it out

MDcatV

Excuse my east coast geographic base, but are you suggesting the ToC should race in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in February? Might be a tough stage ... I've skied Heavenly, Squaw, and Sierra at Tahoe in February and the roads were impassible without tire chains on 4x4s.

DiabloScott

+1

Without San Francisco it won't be as interesting and it won't draw the crowds. The Prologue was real good TV material too. What internationally known landmarks are in Palo Alto?

This is the first year of the last years I fear, unless it goes back to Bagdad by the Bay it'll bomb.

esammuli

From what I've heard the prologue will end at Stanford.

I've also heard that the final stage through Pasadena will end with a circuit at the Rose Bowl.

UmneyDurak

I was marshaling the course. One of the pedestrian crossing was blocked off, because it would have been very dangerous for people to cross it with constant traffic on one side and racers on the other. So I had to deal with all the people whining that they had to walk a block to cross the street. One lady became hysterical and started to cry. Another dude would not listen to me that he couldn't cross, asked (well more like shouted) the cop who told him exact same thing. It seemed like the younger the person the more they whined.

Ritterview

Hmmmm....I wonder if it will go up Palm Drive?

'nother

Just got back from the big PR thing in downtown Palo Alto. It was cool; a good number of cyclists turned out, including the president of USA Cycling, who is a resident of Palo Alto. This is a really cool thing. The organizers will not regret leaving Ess Eff out of the picture. Cycling is *huge* on the peninsula. Plus it will probably be a little easier to get around than "The City".


Some little community college..."Stanford University" I think it is called. Not too many people have heard of it.


Yeah. Riding through several feet of snow would really show the rest of the world that cyclists are not *******. Of course, with Global Warming and such, this proposal could come to fruition within our lifetimes I suppose.


A mountaintop finish would be really cool but I very *very* much doubt it will happen anytime soon. There is tremendous competition amongst the "host" cities to get starts/finishes in their towns, because it brings them added revenue from the expositions and such. A lot of that comes from people who were just passing through, work downtown, etc.. A lot of cyclists might make the slog to the top of Hamilton or Diablo to see a finish there, but those crowds would pale in comparison to those they get in the nice flat downtown areas.

curiouskid55

Pasadena is arguably the cycling capital of Socal and within easy cycling distance from my house in Burbank . Hallelujah a pro tour event litearally in my own back yard.

steephill

I'm sure the organizers who love to have a mountaintop finish if some community would pay for it. $$$ has a lot to do with the route choices.

urbanknight

Yay, I'll be living a short distance from the finish by then!

And yeah, Pasadena might be the cycling capitol of the county, but it's mostly commuters, so I don't know how many locals will be head over heels for the race. Anyone know where they might finish? This year they set up the Long Beach Grand Prix stands early and used them. Next year will they just keep the Rose Parade stands up and finish on Colorado Blvd?

Ritterview

Well, to answer my own question, it looks likely.

'Tour of California' bike race may come to PA
February 2009 event could draw 50,000 visitors to Palo Alto and Stanford, supporters estimate

A major kick-off event for the Tour of California bicycle race in early 2009 received an enthusiastic reception -- with some caution -- from the Palo Alto City Council Monday night...

The 3-mile initial stage of the week-long professional race would begin at Palo Alto City Hall and finish on the Stanford campus. It does not pass any residences, Councilman Bern Beecham noted.
https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/s...ry.php?id=5270


Article from today:
https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/s...ry.php?id=5514



Tour of California bicycle race coming to Palo Alto

by Don Kazak
Many of the professional bicycle racers now competing in the Tour de France will be in Palo Alto Feb. 17, 2008, for the prologue that kicks off the Tour of California bicycle race.

Palo Alto and Stanford University will be the host of the prologue, a time trial, having successfully won the bid to be the hosts. The rest of the Tour of California, a week-long race, will range from Santa Rosa to Sacramento to Pasadena.

caloso

I could feel my IQ drop a couple of points just looking at that picture of stanfurd.

UmneyDurak

Socalcycling

oh great hear we go again with everybody wanting the route to go down there favorite road......

timmhaan

no kidding. pretty much the worst timing ever.

Ritterview

Did ya? Hey, I wonder how Stanford's cycling team did this year?

https://www.cyclingnews.com/road.php?...ncca07/ncca073

Division 1 teams

1 STANFORD U CYCLING 519 pts
2 UC DAVIS 430
3 FORT LEWIS COLLEGE 409
4 MIDWESTERN STATE 385
5 CSU RAMS CYCLING 347
6 UNIV OF FLORIDA CYC 307
7 UNIV OF NEW HAMP 286
8 LEES-MCRAE CYCLING 267
9 CU AT BOULDER 259
10 PENN STATE CYCLING 239
11 U OF WISC-MADISON 233
12 University of Virginia 220
13 UNIV OF TEXAS CYC 208
14 CAL POLY WHEELMEN 207
15 UC-SANTA BARBARA 196
16 UNC-CHAPEL HILL 186
17 INDIANA UNIVERSITY 179
18 Northwestern University 168
19 Columbia University 141
20 UVM Cycling 128
21 Virginia Commonwealth University 123
22 Virginia Tech Cycling Team 120
23 NC STATE CYCLING 120
24 UNIV OF MINNESOTA 116
25 KSU CYCLING 113
26 UC Berkeley 108
27 UC San Diego Cycling 107
28 Oregon State Cycling 95
29 UGA Cycling 90
30 Harvard U Cycling 85
31 US NAVAL ACADEMY 83
32 Purdue University 68
33 UNIVERSITY OF UTAH 62
34 University of Illinois 61
35 UNIV OF ARIZONA 58
36 U of Nevada Cycling Team 55
37 U of Wyoming Cycling 50
38 KU CYCLING 48
39 Clemson University 44
40 University of Oregon 42
41 UCLA Cycling 32
42 U of Michigan Cycling 30
43 Portland Stste Cycling 24
44 Arizona State University 24
45 Texas A&M University 20

'nother

Oooh -- that's gotta sting a little.

velocycling

I wish they would race over the back side of Mt. Hamilton, then finsh in San Jose. That would be a tough day.

Chad's Colnago

I work with a lot of west coast biotech companies. I should plan a "business" trip right around the Tour of California.