The Tour of California, a bike race that will be held February 19-26 and will span much of the state, announced its route and title sponsor yesterday. The inaugural event will begin in San Francisco, go through wine country, then down the coast, finishing in Redondo Beach. Luckily for participants, early rumors of having to climb Donner Pass (elevation 7239 feet) in the middle of February were unfounded.
However, had the riders been forced to ascend forbidding Donner Pass, the sponsor of the event, Amgen, could have helped the peloton out with a little, ahem, boost. While this will be Amgen's first official foray into the world of professional cycling sponsorship, their products have been unofficially, and illegally, used for years. Amgen is the maker of Erythropoietin, the growth hormone known to cycling fans as EPO, or to the casual follower as the stuff that, according to L'Equipe, was found in Lance Armstrong's urine.
