The 2011 Tour of California concluded in Thousand Oaks as well. On the finishing circuit the riders cycled five 8 kilometre laps. Matthew Goss won the bunch sprint, Peter Sagan came in second. Chris Horner took the GC win.
In 2010 the race concluded in Thousand Oaks with the exact same hilly circuit as todays, meaning 3 large rounds of 34 kilometres and 3 small round of almost 9 kilometres. Each large lap contains the RockStore Climb way through – the climb is 3.2 kilometres long with an average gradient of 8.2%. Before this the riders cross Westlake Villlage and Agoura Hills and upon cresting RockStore it’s a steep and technical descent. From the top there are 14.2 kilometres left to the finish. If stage 6, the Queen Stage, wasn’t decisive, then this could make for a thrilling closing stage.
In 2010 Ryder Hesjedal took the stage victory, Michael Rogers the GC win.
Thousand Oaks is the home base of title sponsor Amgen. It is one of the wealthiest areas in the US – Britney Spears, Sylvester Stallone and Tiger Woods are among the (former) residents.
The stage starts at 17:45 CET and the finish is expected around 20:45.
Tour of California 2014 stage 8: Images and more
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