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Armstrong and defending champion Leipheimer commit to Tour of California

By Cycling News

published 22 October 2009

US National Champions Hincapie and Zabriskie also twitter their race intentions

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USA's Levi Leipheimer (Astana)(Image credit: AFP)

A new Tour experience for Lance Armstrong as he stands next to the top step of the podium(Image credit: Sirotti)

Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, George Hincapie and Dave Zabriskie will race the Tour of California in 2010. The favorites started announcing their intentions to race the 2010 Tour of California via Twitter on Thursday morning.

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Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger started the announcement with a Twitter comment about how great the next edition of the race would be. In it, he also invited Lance Armstrong to attend. Shortly thereafer, Armstrong responded, "Absolutely... I've decided to ride the Amgen Tour of California in 2010. Can't wait. What about you @levileipheimer?"

Since the Tour of California has moved from February to May, Armstrong's announcement is significant; it means he will not be racing the Giro d'Italia.

Then it was Leipheimer's turn to say he'd be there. The three-time race winner passed the Twitter baton next to US National Road Champion George Hincapie, who promised that he'd show up wearing his stars and stripes.

National Time Trial Champion Dave Zabrikie followed suit. He stated his intentions to race in California.

Soon after, Armstrong and Leipheimer shared the names of the host cities for stages one and two.

Leipheimer won the 2009 edition of the race, with Lance Armstrong working for him as an Astana teammate. The two will ride together next season for RadioShack. Hincapie will race for the BMC team while Zabriskie will race for Garmin-Slipstream.