Top women cyclists coming to Lake Tahoe; Amgen Tour course goes through town

Exciting times for South Lake Tahoe in May as the community shines on the international stage as the location of the first stage of the Amgen Tour of California. Fourteen teams consisting of 84 of the top professional women racers will be in town for the race May 8-9, 2015. The racers consist of Olympic medalists, World Champions, Tour de France competitors and other cyclists from the National and International field.

Many of the teams have already been in the area getting ready for the Lake Tahoe stop on their tour. As we get closer to May 8, more of the participants will be in town.

Lake Tahoe once hosted the first stage of the men's Amgen Tour, but after several hours of delay it had to be canceled due to low temperatures, snow and ice. The extended forecast on accuweather.com says the weather for the women's tour on May 8-9 will be 71 degrees on Friday, 65 on Saturday with sunny and clear skies both days.

Heavenly California Base Lodge serves as both the start and finish line on Saturday and Sunday. If you have ever traveled to the ski resort, or around the lake, you know the cyclists will experience some tough climbs.

There will be temporary road closures involved in the race on both days, Friday and Saturday. As the course was designed, peak travel times, school open and closure times, and other variables, were taken into consideration.

On Friday, the racers leave Heavenly California Base Lodge at 11 a.m., proceed down Ski Run Blvd to Pioneer Trail, down Al Tahoe Blvd, then west on Highway 50 to the Y. From there they ride around the lake. Once back on the South Shore they'll ride behind MontBleu and Raleys, up Rocky Point to Keller, then back to Heavenly. Expected finish time is between 2:05 p.m. and 2:42 p.m.

Saturday's race will be completely on the South Shore. The women leave Heavenly at 10:30 a.m. and ride down Keller to Pioneer Trail where they head through neighborhood streets to Glenwood Rd, back to Pioneer Trail and out to Meyers and Christmas Valley, back down Pioneer, up Ski Run Blvd and back to Heavenly. They will ride this course twice. Expected finish time is between 12:20 p.m. and 12:50 p.m

There are many places to view the race, perhaps close to your home, as well as at Heavenly. There will be rolling road closures that last just long enough for riders to pass. Race officials wanted to close down the neighborhoods for two hours to limit cars and traffic from the race course, but local officials asked that this not happen so locals would not be inconvenienced.

"It's America's largest cycling event at America's Best Lake," said Carol Chaplin, executive director of the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority. "Hosting the women's race and time trial for the Amgen Tour of California's 10th anniversary provides an opportunity to challenge these athletes with our natural environment and help to elevate awareness of women's racing as a prestigious sport. Tahoe South and our partners are looking forward to hosting the competitors, sponsors, fans and media to an area where the local culture enthusiastically supports, inspires, embraces and appreciates the sport."

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