Tour of California releases final stage details

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2010 Tour of California stage 7 map(Image credit: Tour of California)

The Tour of California will end this year with a time trial through downtown Los Angeles, to be topped of with a final stage which features four laps of a circuit including the 1,000-foot Mulholland Highway climb. Race organisers released the details of the final two stages Friday.

Stage 7, an individual time trial, could set an all-time attendance record. The riders will cover two laps of the 10.5-mile (33.6km) circuit which goes past many of the city's landmarks. Starting at Figueroa Street and 12th Street, the riders will first head south, passing by the Los Angeles Convention Center and the University of Southern California and Exposition Park, before circling around the LA Coliseum and heading back north. The second half of the course will feature two short steep climbs, and the riders will probably not notice when they pass by the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels and the Los Angeles City Hall.

On paper I'd say the race will still have four to five top riders within 30 seconds of one another when we come to this time trial. The race will have been tough, but I can't see a stage that will absolutely separate Leipheimer, Nibali, Rogers, Gesink, and Zabriskie before the time trial, so this will be the day that gives the final nod to the winner. A course with long straights and just a few hills, it will suit Zabriskie and Cancellara much more than the Solvang time trial used to. Fatigue will also be a bigger part of the result than in the past, as this is stage 7, and the riders will be tired after the hellish day to Big Bear. That suits Leipheimer and Nibali more than Zabriskie and Cancellara.