No Sacramento or Sierra's in 2012 Tour of California

Since it's inception in 2006, the Tour of California has visited the Capital city of Sacramento in some form or another. The first year the race came roaring into Sacramento from Santa Rosa concluding with several fast laps around the cesspool the California legislators call home - The capital building. The race has since held the time trial prologue or been the stage finish with the past two years hosting the sprint stage that started in the foothills or directly in the Sierra's. This year however, the host city of Sacramento is not on the list and neither are the gem of California, the Sierra mountains.

In the 2011 edition, The Tour of California (TOC) moved the start date to May from the early spring in an attempt to better adapt to the UCI racing calendar and in the hopes of getting some famous California weather and skip the days of rain the race had been plagued with. 2011 was slated to start in South Lake Tahoe with a bumpy ride around the Lake with an exciting finish at North Star. Then the next day would see the field begin at Squaw Valley (host of the 1960 Winter Olympics) and finish in Sacramento. But due to an early winter snow storm stage 1 was cancelled completely and stage 2 had to be moved down the mountain and away from Squaw completely but still completed in Sacramento.

Perhaps this year the organizers wanted to stay away from any possible conflict with mother nature in the form of snow and therefore decided to move the race inland. While the Sierra's are skipped this year, the true toughness and climbs (as found by the Donner party in 1846) were never really in focus anyway. Mt. Baldy in Southern California is the true climbing stage of the race and will once again prove pivotal in the outcome and in Chris Horner's title defense.

The following cities to host this years race were announced as follows according to the CyclingNews website:

• Stage 1: Sunday, May 13 – Santa Rosa
• Stage 2: Monday, May 14 – San Francisco to Santa Cruz County
• Stage 3: Tuesday, May 15 – San Jose to Livermore
• Stage 4: Wednesday, May 16 – Sonora (new for 2012) to Clovis
• Stage 5: Thursday, May 17 – Bakersfield (Individual Time Trial)
• Stage 6: Friday, May 18 – Palmdale to Big Bear Lake
• Stage 7: Saturday, May 19 – Ontario (new for 2012) to Mt. Baldy
• Stage 8: Sunday, May 20 – Los Angeles/L.A. LIVE