[Adobe Acrobat required]
Wm. S. Hart Union High School District What's Good &
School Board Roundup
College of the Canyons
Breaking News Bottom Line
Newhall School District NSD Today
Santa Clarita Valley Senior Center
The Mighty Oak
Samuel Dixon Family Health Centers Inc. Health Matters
Santa Clarita Valley
Historical Society
Heritage Junction Dispatch
Organization: Amgen Tour of California
Date: September 25, 2008
Lance Armstrong to Race in 2009 Amgen Tour of California
LOS ANGELES (September 25, 2008) — Lance Armstrong today announced his plan to race in the 2009 Amgen Tour of California with the Astana Cycling Team in a press conference in Las Vegas. Armstrong's highly anticipated return to competitive professional cycling for the 2009 season, after a three-year hiatus, will begin in January and the Amgen Tour of California will be his first U.S. race of the season.
"I will be competing in the Amgen Tour of California," confirmed Lance Armstrong. "The level of competition, the challenge of the course and the highly professional atmosphere make it the ideal situation for me to continue my training. I also have chosen the Amgen Tour of California because of the race's record of supporting cancer awareness and research through their Amgen Breakaway from Cancer&tm; initiative, and their commitment to partner with our Lance Armstrong Foundation. I look forward to racing once again in the United States in what we consider the best race outside of Europe."
Already considered cycling's most important and successful road race in the United States, the 2009 Amgen Tour of California will be expanded to cover more than 800 miles over nine days. The event's fourth running is scheduled for February 14-22, 2009, and will showcase some of the world's top professional cycling teams. Traveling almost the entire length of California on a demanding course, the race will begin in the state's capital, Sacramento, and end in San Diego County for the first time.
"We are delighted to have Lance Armstrong participating in the 2009 Amgen Tour of California. He will be one of the many world-class cyclists who will be participating in America's greatest cycling stage race," said Andrew Messick, president, AEG Sports, owner and operator of the Amgen Tour of California. "We applaud the commitment that Armstrong has made to return to cycling for the purpose of raising awareness for cancer. All of us at AEG, the Amgen Tour of California and Amgen share his commitment to supporting those who are engaged in this important fight through the Breakaway from Cancer™ initiative."
Building on last year's third annual stage race, which attracted 1.6 million spectators, the 2009 Amgen Tour of California will visit 16 host cities for official stage starts and finishes, with communities along the route getting the chance to see firsthand a lineup of some of the best and most recognizable teams in the world. Host cities for the nine stages include: Sacramento, Davis (new city for 2009), Santa Rosa, Sausalito, Santa Cruz (new city for 2009), San Jose, Modesto, Merced (new city for 2009), Clovis (new city for 2009), Visalia (new city for 2009), Paso Robles (new city for 2009), Solvang, Santa Clarita, Pasadena, Rancho Bernardo (new city for 2009) and Escondido (new city for 2009).
As the title sponsor of the race for the fourth consecutive year, Amgen, a leading global biotechnology company with headquarters in Thousand Oaks, Calif., will continue to leverage the race to raise awareness and support for people affected by cancer through the Breakaway from CancerTM initiative. Amgen's invaluable support of the Amgen Tour of California has helped to ensure the race's continued success and impact beyond the sporting arena.
"Lance Armstrong's feats in professional cycling and his leadership in the fight against cancer have served to benefit the sport of cycling and more importantly cancer patients everywhere," said George Morrow, Amgen's executive vice president of Global Commercial Operations. "We welcome Lance to the Amgen Tour of California and look forward to collaborating with him and the Lance Armstrong Foundation through Amgen's Breakaway from Cancer&tm; initiative, which we launched in the inaugural year of the Amgen Tour of California to raise awareness of non-profit organizations that benefit people affected by cancer."
For additional information on the 2009 Amgen Tour of California, please visit www.amgentourofcalifornia.com.
About the Amgen Tour of California
The largest cycling event in America, the 2009 Amgen Tour of California is a Tour de France-style cycling road race, presented by AEG, that challenges the world's top professional cycling teams to compete along a demanding, recently expanded, more than 800-mile course from Sacramento to Escondido from February 14-22, 2009.
