Bicycle.net has been working hard to filter through the rumors and come up with what is most likely the proposed route for the 2010 Amgen Tour of California, but this is still our best guess. As it sits today the official announcement of the 2010 route is scheduled for October 22.

STAGE 1; A Point-to-Point stage starting in Nevada City, CA (Sierra Foothills) and finishing in downtown repeat town and State Capital of Sacramento.

STAGE 2; It will start in Davis and continue to Santa Rosa, the hometown of the Levi Leipheimer. It appears that the stage will be longer than 2009 due to the addition of the Bodega Bay. This might also add the very steep climb of Coleman Valley.

STAGE 3; San Francisco to Santa Cruz. This will look a lot like 2009 but very likely without the Golden Gate Bridge which was very scenic but logistically difficult.

STAGE 4; San Jose to Modesto. Should be the same route as in 2009. We do not expect any changes.

STAGE 5; The details are still in the process of being worked out. What is probably a good bet is that it will end in Bakersfield. The start will most likely be in Visalia again or possible Clovis. The start in Clovis is less likely because the stage would be a little too long. If AEG gets their way the actual finish line would be at Bakersfield College which sits on the top of a bluff and would allow for several challenging finishing circuits once the race reaches town.

STAGE 6; This is very likely the stage that AEG has been dreaming about. A mountain top finish. At the 2009 ToC Bicycle.net had a conversation with AEG President Andrew Messick and we suggested using Big Bear. Well, it seems that they took our advise (yeah right) and will be finish on top of Big Bear at the Lake.

STAGE 7; It should be a fast and flat, 30-mile individual time trial in the Los Angeles Area. So far the beach town of Venice is the most likely contender.

STAGE 8, If you are at all familiar with the climbs in Malibu then this difficult stage will be a home coming. It will start with a very fast descent from the Woodland Hills (West part of the San Fernando Valley) area down to Encinal Road, and then a climb back up the very steep Decker Canyon Road. After that, it will include multiple circuits of a local loop which includes the Rock Store Hill, a very steep climb that ascends 1000 feet in 2 miles, before finally finishing in Thousand Oaks, the hometown of the race’s primary sponsor, Amgen.

So there you have it, and until we hear anything different on October 22nd we will go with this 8 stage prediction.