AMGEN BIKE TOUR DRAWS TOP TALENT.Byline: Daily News The bicyclists scheduled to race next week through Valencia are considered the top talent in the sport to compete in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . Competing in the 2007 Amgen Tour of California The Amgen Tour of California is a professional cycling stage race on the UCI America Tour and USA Cycling Professional Tour that made its debut on February 19, 2006. Sponsored by the biotechnology company Amgen, the eight-day race covers between 650-700 miles (1,045 - 1,126 km). , which starts today in San Francisco and ends next Sunday in Long Beach, are 18 teams and 144 riders. The cyclists will speed from Santa Barbara to the Santa Clarita Valley The Santa Clarita Valley is the valley of the Santa Clara River in Southern California. It stretches through Los Angeles County and Ventura County. Its main population center is the city of Santa Clarita. The valley was part of the 48,612-acre (19,672. on Saturday in the sixth stage of the event. Riders come from 28 countries, including Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (trĭn`ĭdăd, təbā`gō), officially Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, republic (2005 est. pop. 1,088,000), 1,980 sq mi (5,129 sq km), West Indies. The capital is Port of Spain. , Lithuania, Uzbekistan, Cuba, South Africa, Belarus, Luxembourg and Kazakhstan. Top teams scheduled to race, include Discovery Channel Pro Cycling, T-Mobile, Predictor-Lotto, HealthNet and Team CSC, defending its title as overall classification winner of the 2006 tour. Among the notable riders are Top 2006 Tour de France Tour de France World's most prestigious and difficult bicycle race. Staged for three weeks each July—usually in some 20 daylong stages—the Tour typically comprises 20 professional teams of nine riders each and covers some 3,600 km (2,235 miles) of flat and finishers Thor Hushovd, Jens Voigt, Michael Rasmussen, Matteo Tosatto, Michael Rogers and Levi Leipheimer; top Giro d'Italia finishers Ivan Basso and Franco Pellizotti; 2006 world champion medalists Paolo Bettini, Fabian Cancellara and Dave Zabriskie. Zabriskie was second overall in last year's Amgen tour. |
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