Tour of California 2019: The Route

The 2019 Tour of California is played out from 12 May to 18 May. The seven-day stage race includes a summit finishes on Mount Baldy and a demanding mountain stage to South Lake Tahoe. Egan Bernal is title holder.

The 1st stage is the only race that starts and finishes in the same city. Sacramento hosts the race, which could be an indication that the Tour of California begins with a time trial. In 2019, the race concluded with a flat race to a sprint finish in Sacramento (Fernando Gaviria victory).

Stage 2 takes the riders from Rancho Cordova to South Lake Tahoe, where Egan Bernal sealed the GC win in last year’s Queen Stage at the end of a race featuring 4,880 vertical metres. The Colombian finished 1.28 minutes ahead of Adam Yates.

The 3rd stage takes the Tour of California from Stockton to Morgan Hill before stage 4 travels from the Laguna Seca Raceway to Morro Bay. The 5th stage to Ventura preludes the possibly decisive Mount Baldy stage. The 20 kilometres final climb is a monster with an average gradient of 7%. Former winners on this summit are Levi Leipheimer (2011), Robert Gesink (2012), Julian Alaphilippe (2015), and Andrew Talansky (2017).

The race wraps things up with the 7th stage to a likely sprint finish in Pasadena.