With inclement weather making it impossible to hold the Friday, May 15 Amgen Tour of California Time Trial Presented by Lexus as planned at Big Bear Lake, a new course is being primed in Valencia and Santa Clarita for the Men’s and Women’s Individual Time Trial events. 

The course for the Stage 6 Time Trial presented by Lexus is expected to be blistering fast. One by one, the world-class cyclists will leave the start house in the Six Flags Magic Mountain parking lot and race 6.6 miles out and back. The riders will have to navigate a series of quick turns as they head out on The Old Road, revisiting roads used in past editions of the race. With no real elevation gain to contend with, this will be a quick, exciting course with plenty of chances for a surprise victor.

As of day five of [the eight days of] racing, with just :22 separating first and second place, and the top-25 race leaders separated by less than one minute, the time trial course is ripe to cause a shake-up to the standings.  Expect contenders for the overall win like Team Sky’s Peter Kennaugh and Sergio Luis Henao Montoya, Lawson Craddock (Team Giant-Alpecin), Daniel Alexander Jaramillo Diez (Jamis-Hagens Berman p/b Sutter Home) and former race champion Robert Gesink (Team LottoNL-Jumbo) to do battle.

The time trial winner will gain a significant amount of time to increase his gap over the competition, so expect riders to go all-out to improve their standings leading into a very tough race day that ends at the top of Mt. Baldy on Saturday. This includes the tight competition for the SRAM Best Young Rider Jersey, where the top-5 riders are separated by only :03. 

“Everything about this course is primed to deliver fast, exciting racing,” said race director Jim Birrell. “This is the day when the riders will be trying their best to shore up their positions, and where every second matters. On this fairly short course, the result is really anyone’s guess because there is room for a specialty rider to take the cake from the big hitters in the general classification. Either way, we anticipate a very aggressive attempt for the win.”