After yesterday’s climbing from Santa Clarita to Mountain High, today the bunch is back again in Santa Clarita for what looks like a sprinters game. Upon leaving ‘Hollywood North’, as the town is dubbed, the route is continuously going up for the next 60 kilometres, but the gain is negligible. Atop Angeles Forest mountain points are distributed for the final 7.4 kilometres, good for a 389 altimetres gain, meaning a 5% grade.
Next is a short descent and then the cresting of Angeles Crest – 9.4 kilometres, average grade of 4.2%.
The final 50 kilometres are partly descending and partly flat. In Pasadena the stage is closed with 3 local rounds.
After a 5 year absence, the Tour of California returns to the Los Angeles suburb. In 2008 and 2009 it was the finish town of a stage that started in Santa Clarita as well. Just like this edition, the 2008-09 races had a few laps around the Rose Bowl – the athletic stadium famous for the 1994 FIFA World Cup Final. In 2009, three riders escaped in the finale: Rinaldo Nocentini, Hayden Roulston and Pieter Weening, and they arrived in that order.
In 2008, Pasadena hosted the final stage of the Tour of California. George Hincapie won the stage, while Levi Leipheimer took the GC win.
The stage begins 20:40 CET and the finish is expected around 00:50.
Tour of California 2014 stage 7: Images and more
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