California Dreaming

It may not be July or France, but the 2007 Edition of the Amgen Tour of California is loaded with some of procycling's heavy hitters. For those who have always wanted to see high level cycling up close, but couldn't afford the ever escalating prices to do a cycling tour in France during the TDF, the Tour of California is quickly becoming a European favorite. Let's all hope that the shelf life for this American tour is longer than some of its predecessors, a la The (Red Zinger) Coors Classic.

Some of the notables:

Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team (USA)
Ivan Basso (I)
Antonio "Tony" Cruz (USA)
Tom Danielson (USA)
George Hincapie (USA)
Levi Leipheimer (USA)
Jason McCartney (USA)
Tomas Vaitkus (Lit)
Brian Vandborg (Dk)

Team CSC (Dk)
Fabian Cancellara (Swi)
Juan Jose Haedo (Arg) - Last year's Team Toyota-United sprinting surprise
Bobby Julich (USA)
Karsten Kroon (Nl)
Stuart O'Grady (Aus)
Christian Vande Velde (USA)
Jens Voigt (G)
David "Dave" Zabriskie (USA)

Quick Step-Innergetic (B)
Paolo Bettini (I)