The Amgen Tour of California rolls out of Long Beach on Sunday for seven days of racing in its second year on the WorldTour. Thirteen WorldTour teams and four wild card Pro Continental outfits will battle for the overall crown, with a nod to the best young rider and supremacy in the sprints and mountains.
The 119 riders taking the start line on Sunday include world champions, Tour de France hopefuls and a plethora of top-notch domestiques. Cyclingnews has picked five riders to watch throughout the week. Some are on the rise, some are recovering from injury and one is in the middle of a career second wind.
Egan Bernal (Team Sky)
One of the most exciting young riders in the pro peloton, Egan Bernal has already proven himself as a top contender in one-week races during his first season with Team Sky. The 21-year-old Colombian raced for Androni-Sidermec before signing a three-year deal with British superteam Sky this year, and it immediately started paying dividends. He has the rare combination of abilities that allows him to climb and time trial with the best.
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Bernal started his season at the Tour Down Under, where he was fifth on the 'queen stage' to Willunga Hill and won the jersey for the best young rider. He then returned to Colombia and won the country's individual time trial championship, before lining up for the first edition of Colombia's new stage race, Oro y Paz. He went into the final stage fourth overall, but a daring attack on the final climb lifted him into the overall lead ahead of Movistar's Nairo Quintana.
Most recently, Bernal won the individual time trial stage at the Tour de Romandie on his way to finishing second overall to Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo).
In California, Bernal will be able to unleash his climbing skills on the second day's queen stage to Gibraltar Road. The 34.7km stage 4 time trial looks well suited to his skills, and the monster stage on day 6 to South Lake Tahoe includes six categorised climbs before the uphill finish. In all, the peloton will take on nearly 4,000 metres of climbing at altitude during the stage.
Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data)
Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott)
Neilson Powless (LottoNL-Jumbo)
Rob Britton (Rally Cycling)
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/tour-of-california-5-riders-to-watch-2
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