12 most memorable moments from the Tour of California

Snow follows the race to May

For 2011, the organisers of Tour of California selected the first host city in the Sierra Nevada Mountains: South Lake Tahoe. The town sits at 1900m above sea level and would normally be encased in snow during the race's previous February date, but by May the snow is typically long gone. On the eve of the grand depart, the sun shone brightly and riders were eager to get the new challenge underway.

But overnight, the clouds darkened and as riders made their way to the start, a light snow began to send shivers of doubt through a peloton that was still reeling from the death of Wouter Weylandt in the Giro d'Italia six days before. 

Organisers opted to delay the start for three hours, but arguments erupted between race directors who wanted the show to go on and team managers and riders not interested in risking their safety. In the end, the motorcycle marshals necessary to run the stage could not make it through a slippery pass and the stage was called off.

The next morning, a beautiful blanket of snow covered Tahoe preventing the second stage from starting there and the race was forced to move down to the lower-altitude Nevada City, where town officials hastily converted their intermediate sprint infrastructure into a late stage start.

In 2015 snow would again hit the race when Big Bear Lake was expected to hold the individual time trial. This time the organisers had a backup plan and held a shortened 10.6km time trial in Santa Clarita, where Peter Sagan took his first step toward winning the overall.