2006
Winner: Floyd Landis
The finish line: Landis, the first Tour of California champion,
capped his fourth day in the leader's jersey cruising in the lead
pack through the 123.1-kilometer Redondo Beach Circuit course while
his Phonak teammates controlled the field.
In Santa Rosa, Stage 1: Levi Leipheimer started the day with the
leader's jersey, earned in the Prologue stage the previous day in
San Francisco. He rode the 129.1-km course from Sausalito to his
hometown, Santa Rosa, in front of cheering fans and his
Gerolstenier team protected his lead.
2007
Winner: Levi Leipheimer
The finish line: With a comfortable cushion, Leipheimer kept his
lead over the 124.7-km Long Beach circuit course to win the Tour of
California, leading from start to finish.
In Santa Rosa, Stage 1: As in the previous year, Leipheimer rode
the State 1 route from Sausalito to his hometown in the leader's
jersey. He kept the jersey, but it wasn't easy. A huge pileup of
bikes and riders on the second of three circuits through the city
put Leipheimer in a huge hole, but the college of commissaires
stepped in after the race and said they'd extended the UCI's usual
3-kilometer neutral rule for timing the riders to the site of the
crash, about 10 kilometers from the finish.
In Santa Rosa, Stage 2: Starting from Santa Rosa, Leipheimer
maintained his lead on the 187-km ride and was greeted by Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger in Sacramento.
2008
Winner: Levi Leipheimer
The finish line: Leipheimer's Astana team kept him comfortably near
the front of the 93-mile stage from Santa Clarita to Pasadena and
protected the lead he took in Stage 3. Most of the third Tour of
California, including the final stage, was marked by hard rains.
In Santa Rosa, Stage 1: Fabian Cancellara kept the overall lead;
his CSC teammate Juan Jose Haedo controlled the field sprint to the
finish of the 97-mile route from Sausalito to Santa Rosa.
2009
Winner: Levi Leipheimer
The finish line: Leipheimer withstood an onslaught of attacks to
protect his lead over David Zabriskie and win the Tour of
California championship for the third consecutive year. After the
harrowing 96.8-mile trip from Rancho Bernardo to Escondido,
Leipheimer called it the "sweetest victory of the three."
In Santa Rosa, Stage 1: On a cold and rainy 107.6-mile trip from
Davis to Santa Rosa, Spaniard Francesco Mancebo attacked early and
raced to the finish line to take the leader's yellow jersey.
2010
Winner: Michael Rogers
The finish line: Leading by only nine seconds at the start of the
stage, Rogers fended off the attacks of the riders who threatened
his overall lead on the 134.4-km trip from Westlake to Agoura
Hills.
In Santa Rosa, Stage 2: Australian Brett Lancaster took the overall
lead by winning the 176.2-km race from Davis to Santa Rosa in cold,
wet and windy conditions.
2011
Winner: Chris Horner
The finish line: The bunch sprint stage gave no challenge to the
yellow jersey of RadioShack's Chris Horner, who sealed his first
Amgen Tour of California overall victory 38 seconds ahead of
teammate Levi Leipheimer, with Garmin-Cerv??lo's Tom Danielson
taking third. The sprinter-friendly final stage took the riders on
a 132.4-km ride from Santa Clarita that ended in title sponsor
Amgen's headquarters city, Thousand Oaks.
In Santa Rosa: The Tour of California did not include Santa Rosa on
its itinerary for the 2011 event.
2012
Winner: Robert Gesink
The finish line: Peter Sagan won five of the eight stages, but he
saw his chance at a Tour of California win disappear when Robert
Gesink launched an attack in the final 4.5 kilometers of the stage
and pulled away to win the stage and take the overall lead away
from Sagan.
In Santa Rosa, Stage 1: Levi Leipheimer earned the biggest cheers,
returning to competitive racing just six weeks after his left leg
was broken when he was hit by a car on a training ride crash in
Spain. The stage victory went to Peter Sagan.
-- Compiled by James Barger, The Press Democrat
UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy: