James Raia posted his ideas to better the Tour of California. My personal fav is #9!!....and it made me think of how the ToC could be improved even more. My first thought was to include the women!!

Amgen Tour of California, 2010: Ten ideas for a better race

Now that the route for the 2010 Amgen Tour of California has been announced, it's time get on with more important things.

A late-race mountaintop finish is cool. A downtown Los Angles individual time trial appears to be a great idea, too.

And the route for the fifth annual event will be the race's most difficult to date.

But here are 10 things I'd to see happen to make the Tour of California better. Some really should occur. The others? Just having a a little fun, you know?

10. A ban on the use of the word "grueling" throughout the entire eight days by anyone associated with the race. Bike racing is hard. It doesn't need embellishment.

9. A ban on white cycling shorts.

8. A young, unheralded pro taking a flyer and staying away from the big boys.

7. Levi Leipheimer winning a road stage. He's won two prologues, four individual time trials and three overall titles in four years, but not a road stage.

6. The fifth year as the last year of the race's eight-day format. Jonathan Vaughters said it best at the Rose Bowl press conference two years after the final stage. "The race should expand into a two-week race or longer. Let's go for it and do it right or not bother."

5. Discontinue the announcement of attendance estimates after stages. The totals aren't acccurate, they're guesses at best, tablulated by officials with vivid imaginations at worst. Besides, no one cares.

4. Hey, you other 15 cities. Take a look at Santa Rosa. Best city support every year so far. Store front windows decorated with old bikes, woolen jerseys, etc. Fans on rooftops and crowding the streets, all well-behaved and into the race, rain or shine.

3. Media wish (a): A four-color slick race magazine. Not a canned supplement, but the real deal. Athlete profiles, human-interest pieces, statistics, historical cycling essays. OK, sponsors' stuff included if it has to be.

2. Meda wish (b): Mainstream network of radio stations start to finish.

1. Pick any city. Peloton cruising through a small town. Grade school kids are out of classes for few minutes holding up handmade signs about the race. Word gets out. Peloton stops. 125 riders do "knuckles" with 200 kids for a minute or two. Peloton rolls out of town. Kids never forget.

from Team Astana....

After the Giro di Lombardia, the 24th and last race of the UCI World Calendar, which took place in Italy on October 17th, Alberto Contador is the final overall winner of the 2009 UCI individual World Ranking and his success during the season helped Team Asana top the team ranking.  Spanish rival and 2008 number one Alejandro Valverde was second with 483 points. Spain completed their domination of the individual ranking, with Samuel Sanchez of the Euskaltel team third with 357 points.
 
Contador scored the most points (264) by winning the Tour de France victory (and three stages). He confirmed there that he is currently the best stage race rider in cycling. Earlier in the season Contador scored 76 points by finishing fourth and winning two stages in the Paris-Nice race in March. He then scored a further 112 points thanks to winning and taking two stages at the Vuelta al Paìs Vasco in April and also scored 75 points by finishing third overall in the Dauphiné Libéré stage race in June.
 
Contador’s individual success, together with the points scored by Andreas Klöden (in Tirreno-Adriatico, Tour de Suisse and Tour de France), Lance Armstrong (in Giro and Tour), Haimar Zubeldia (in Tour of Catalunya and Vuelta) and Levi Leipheimer (in Giro)  helped his Astana team secure the victory in the UCI World Team Ranking. The Kazakhstan team scored a total of 1100 points during the season; beating nearest rivals Caisse d’Epargne by 52 points. Team Columbia was third.

Final Individual World Ranking

1. Alberto Contador (AST) 527 points
2. Alejandro Valverde     483
3. Samuel Sanchez         357
4. Andy Schleck           334
5. Cadel Evans            333
6. Edvald Boasson Hagen   322
7. Roman Kreuziger        319
8. Mark Cavendish         304
9. Philippe Gilbert       295
10.Robert Gesink          266
 
Final Teams World Ranking
1. Team Astana           1100 points
2. Caisse d’Epargne      1048
3. Team Columbia          957

Received the press release a couple hours ago....interesting read....

Manager Johan Bruyneel
 
I think it’s a very traditional course. There is a little bit less time trialing than normal but other than that there are no surprises. In the beginning the stage with the cobblestones can be tricky but other than that it is very predictable. It’s a pity that there is no team time trial. Now at least they have eliminated the TTT which I think is better than the strange rules  - about the time won or lost after a TTT - that existed in the past. It’s either you have it or you don’t have it, without special rules. Now it is easy; there is no TTT. At least that is fair.
 
 
Alberto Contador
 
I like the course. It will be a better Tour for climbers than for rouleurs. Honestly I would have preferred a 10 K shorter time trial and a second one of 20 or 30 K, but I am really happy about the course. It will be a very difficult race to control in the first week, which is particularly difficult with the Paris-Roubaix cobblestones, but I don’t give it too much importance. The most important thing will be not to crash. I hope it will not rain there.
 
The Alps stages will be less hard. The Pyrenees will be twice as hard as this year, especially with the double climb of the Tourmalet, one of them with a mountaintop finish. I will recognize those stages to know more about them.
 
 
Lance Armstrong
 
I think it’s an interesting course. It starts exciting. The first few days will provide a lot of drama for people between the crosswinds in Holland and  the hills in and around Brussels and Spa and then with of course the cobblestones when we first come into France.  The cobbles themselves are dangerous but what is even more dangerous is the run into the cobblestones. The kilometers before, the nerves, the anticipation before, the positioning, that is the most dangerous part. You need obviously an all rounded team but I think you have to take some big guys who can definitely support you in that first week because with the cobble sections you have to be in the front. I remember we did those sections in 2004 and I had great support from Ekimov and Hincapie. We came in the cobble zones first. It makes a big difference.
 
There will be only 60 K individual time trial but the only thing that is unfortunate for us, is that there will be no team time trial. The race will technically and tactically be much different than this year. You will have more guys who will be factors in the race because of the lack of the team time trial. In 2009 the TTT eliminated half of a dozen guys.
 
I think the organizers like what they had this year with a summit finish so late in the race. It keeps things  close, it keeps everybody guessing. It keeps the riders sharp too. The race will not be decided before the last three or four days. Two times on the Tourmalet is unique too. I like it.
 
I will be close to 39 years old but the goal and ambition will be to try to win. I’m excited for the whole upcoming season. I like to think that I will be better than last year but Alberto has shown that he is the best in his sport right now; he will be tough to beat

Elite Men
Tom Danielson (Durango, Colo./Garmin-Slipstream)– Road Race and Time Trial
Tyler Farrar (Wenatchee, Wash./Garmin-Slipstream) – Road Race
Brent Bookwalter (Lookout Mountain, Ga./BMC Racing Team) – Road Race
Jeff Louder (Salt Lake City, Utah/BMC) – Road Race
Craig Lewis (Greenville, S.C./Columbia-High Road)– Road Race
Andrew Bajadali (Boulder, Colo./Kelly Benefit Strategies)– Road Race
Jason McCartney (Coralville, Iowa/Team Saxo Bank)– Road Race
Tim Duggan (Boulder, Colo./Garmin-Slipstream)– Road Race
Tom Peterson (North Bend, Wash./Garmnin-Slipstream)– Road Race
Tom Zirbel (Boulder, Colo./Bissell) – Time Trial

Elite Women
Kristin Armstrong (Boise, Idaho/Cervelo-Lifeforce) – Time Trial and Road Race
Amber Neben (Irvine, Calif./ Equipe Nürnberger) – Time Trial and Road Race
Kimberly Anderson (Santa Barbara, Calif./Columbia-High Road) – Road Race
Mara Abbott (Boulder, Colo./Columbia HTC) – Road Race
Meredith Miller (Fort Collins, Colo./Team TIBCO) – Road Race
Evelyn Stevens (New York, N.Y.) – Road Race
Jessica Phillips (Aspen, Colo./Team Lip Smackers) – Time Trial

U23 Men
Peter Stetina (Boulder, Colo./Garmin-Felt-Holowesko) – Road Race and Time Trial
Tejay Vangarderen (Superior, Colo./Rabobank Continental Team) – Road Race and Time Trial
Kirk Carlsen (Boulder, Colo./Garmin-Felt-Holowesko) – Road Race
Chris Barton (Ojai, Calif./BMC) – Road Race
Alex Howes (Boulder, Colo./Garmin-Felt-Holowesko) – Road Race

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