The Amgen

Tour of California The Tour of California (officially sponsored as the Amgen Tour of California) was an annual professional road cycling stage race on the UCI World Tour and USA Cycling Professional Tour that ran from 2006 to 2019. It was the only event on the ...

2007 was the second edition of an eight-day, 650-mile (1,045 km) stage race that raced through the California redwoods, wine country and the Pacific Coast. The

road bicycle racing Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most common ...

event was held February 18, 2007. The 2007 Tour of California was part of the 2006–2007 UCI America Tour and the inaugural

2007 USA Cycling Professional Tour The 2007 USA Cycling Professional Tour is the inaugural year of a professional road bicycle racing series organized by USA Cycling. Levi Leipheimer and the team won the overall individual and team titles respectively. Leipheimer finished the sea ...

. On November 28, 2006, the UCI upgraded the multi-day event from 2.1 (category 1) to 2.HC (french: Hors Categorie; English: ''beyond categorization'').

Stages and results

Prologue: San Francisco

The Prologue was an

individual time trial An individual time trial (ITT) is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock (in French: ''contre la montre'' – literally "against the watch", in Italian: ''tappa a cronometro'' " stopwatch stage"). There are also track ...

held Sunday, February 18, 2007, in San Francisco. Native Californian and last year's prologue champion

Levi Leipheimer Levi Leipheimer (born October 24, 1973) is an American former professional road racing cyclist. He was twice US national champion, winning the time trial title in 1999 and the road race in 2007, and is an Olympic medalist. Leipheimer was born a ...

edged out Colorado's Jason Donald from and former NCAA Road Champion Benjamin Jacques-Maynes.

Stage 1: Sausalito to Santa Rosa

Stage 1 was held Monday, February 19, 2007. A breakaway of four riders including

Adam Hansen Adam Hansen (born 11 May 1981) is an Australian Ironman triathlete and former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2007 and 2020, for the and teams. Career Hansen was born in Southport, Queensland, and turned prof ...

of was reeled in shortly before the finish in Santa Rosa. During the second of the three finishing laps in Santa Rosa, a crash took down most of the peloton, including leader Levi Leipheimer. Those not involved in the crash fought for the stage victory, taken by

Graeme Brown Graeme Allen Brown OAM (born 9 April 1979) is an Australian former professional cyclist, who competed professionally between 2002 and 2016 for the , and teams. A former Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder, Brown's greatest suc ...

by mere millimeters. Riders involved in the crash lost several minutes, but the race officials decided to credit most of them with the winner's time, meaning that Leipheimer retained the leader's jersey. This decision, which meant extending the "safety zone" to 6 miles (10 km) before the end, was criticized by some riders and team staff.

Stage 2: Santa Rosa to Sacramento

Held Tuesday, February 20, 2007.

Stage 3: Stockton to San Jose

Held Wednesday, February 21, 2007.

Stage 4: Seaside to
San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly hal ...

Stage 4 was held Thursday, February 22, 2007. Reigning Olympic and World Champion

Paolo Bettini Paolo Bettini (born 1 April 1974 in Cecina, Livorno, Tuscany) is an Italian former champion road racing cyclist, and the former coach of the Italian national cycling team. Considered the best classics specialist of his generation, and probably o ...

captured Stage 4, the event's longest stage, edging

Gerald Ciolek Gerald Michael Ciolek (born 19 September 1986) is a German former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2005 and 2016. He currently works as a directeur sportif for UCI Continental team . Career Ciolek started racing ...

Juan José Haedo Juan José Haedo (born 26 January 1981) is an Argentine former professional road racing cyclist and track cyclist, who rode professionally between 2003 and 2014. He is the brother of Lucas Sebastián Haedo. Haedo started his career on the track ...

, and

Thor Hushovd Thor Hushovd (born 18 January 1978) is a Norwegian former professional road bicycle racer. He is known for sprinting and time trialing; Hushovd is a three-time Norwegian National Road Race Championships, Norwegian national road race champion ( ...

in a sprint finish after the peloton reeled in a seven-man breakaway consisting of

Hilton Clarke Hilton Clarke (born 7 November 1979) is an Australian former professional cyclist. Born in Ormond, Clarke became a professional in 2001. He was introduced to the sport by his father Hilton Clarke, an Olympic cyclist, at the age of 9. Major r ...

(), Aaron Olson (),

Kirk O'Bee Kirk O'Bee (born April 9, 1977, in Ada, Michigan) is a former professional road racing cyclist from the United States. He won two national championships – in 1997 the USPRO pursuit championship, and in 2001 the USPRO criterium championship. Do ...

(), Alejandro Acton (), Christophe Laurent (), Lucas Euser (), and Sean Sullivan ().

Stage 5: Solvang
time trial In many racing sports, an athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athlete or team sets off at ...

Held Friday, February 23, 2007, Stage 5 was an

. Yellow jersey holder

extended his lead over second place Jens Voigt and the rest of the field. Paolo Bettini - 2007

Stage 6: Santa Barbara to Santa Clarita

; Young Rider Classification # , , 22.20.46 ; Most Aggressive Rider: * , ; Team classification # , 66.56.17 # , +2.19 # , +3.20

Stage 7:
Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporat ...
circuit race

Held Sunday, February 25, 2007.

Final results

General Classification after Stage 7 (Final results)

Jersey progress

Teams

;

UCI ProTour The UCI ProTour was a series of road bicycle races in Europe, Australia and Canada organised by the UCI (International Cycling Union). Created by Hein Verbruggen, former president of the UCI, it comprises a number of 'ProTour' cycling teams, e ...

teams * C.A - * DSC - * GST - * LIQ - * PRL - * QSI - * RAB - * TMO - * CSC - ; UCI Professional Continental teams * HNM - * NIC - * TSL - ; UCI Continental teams * BMC - * TUT - ;

USA Cycling USA Cycling or USAC, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is the national governing body for bicycle racing in the United States. It covers the disciplines of road, track, mountain bike, cyclo-cross, and BMX across all ages and ability level ...

registered teams * COL - * JBC - * ABB - * USA -

National Development Team

References

External links

* - 2007 Tour Archive
Live Coverage and Photos
''Cyclingfans.com'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Tour Of California - 2007

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

Tour of California 2007 Tour of California 2007 2007 in sports in California