The 2010 Tour of California was the fifth running of the Tour of California cycling stage race. It was held from May 16–23, and was the first edition of the race held in the month of May, after the first four occurred in February. It was rated as a 2.HC event on the UCI America Tour. It began in Nevada City and concluded in the Agoura Hills.
The event's move to later in the year has made it so the route was different from previous editions of the race, and also provided for a different makeup of ridership, as it conflicted with the 2010 Giro d'Italia.
The race was won by rider Michael Rogers, who held off ' David Zabriskie and Levi Leipheimer of . In other classifications, 's Peter Sagan won both the points and young rider classifications, Thomas Rabou of won the mountains classification and Garmin-Transitions won the teams classification.
Participating teams
Sixteen teams participated in the Tour of California. These included seven UCI ProTour teams, two UCI Professional Continental teams, and seven UCI Continental teams. They were:
UCI ProTour Teams
GRM –
LIQ –
QST –
RAB –
THR –
RSH –
SAX –
UCI Professional Continental Teams
BMC –
CTT –
UCI Continental Teams
BPC –
FAS – Fly V Australia
JBC –
KBS –
CSM – SpiderTech-Planet Energy
TT1 –
UHC –
's Levi Leipheimer returned, to try for a fourth consecutive overall victory. Leipheimer's teammate Lance Armstrong has also committed to the race, as has George Hincapie, riding in 2010 for . rider David Zabriskie, second-place finisher in 2006 and 2009, has also been announced for the race.
Changes from 2009
The 2010 Tour was the first to take place in May rather than February. This has allowed race organizers to move the race inland from the coastal route it used in its four editions. This eliminated Solvang, which had hosted an individual time trial in each of the last three editions of the race, from the route, along with other past cities. Moving to May allowed the race to visit some taller, more difficult climbs further inland, which were too cold to visit in February. Andrew Messick, president of Anschutz Entertainment Group (the organizers of the race), has said that the route for the 2010 Tour will be more difficult than it was in 2009, and that the May time position also moves them from cycling's "pre-season" and gives a better chance to showcase the race, as it now takes place at a time when more riders should be at or near peak form. Race officials also hoped to make the event a preparatory one for the Tour de France.
The race was held at the same time of year as the Giro d'Italia. Messick has admitted that this will probably result in fewer Italians starting this race, and fewer Americans in the Giro. However, the consensus among race organizers was that few riders who seek a high position in the Tour de France also ride the Giro d'Italia, so the possible loss of riders such as Carlos Sastre and Mark Cavendish (who rode the Tour of California, the Giro d'Italia, and the Tour de France in 2009) was not seen as a major risk.
Tour stages
The 2010 Tour was held over eight days, down from nine in 2009. This change is due to the current economic state after the recession of the last several years. The prologue has been eliminated.
Stage 1
May 16, 2010 — Nevada City to Sacramento,
While past editions of the Tour of California began with a prologue time trial, the first stage in 2010 was a road race from Nevada City to the state capital Sacramento. The course consisted of a lot of descending, starting at and ending near sea level with three laps of a circuit in Sacramento, and a mass sprint finish the expectation.