STAGE 5 - Seaside to Paso Robles, May 19

Stage 5 of the race will still start in Seaside and the peloton will head east through decommissioned Fort Ord into Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, home of the Sea Otter Classic. A few turns will take the riders out onto Hwy 68 and the peloton will soon tackle the first of four KOMs, Laureles Grade. A fast four-mile descent will bring the race into the quaint village of Carmel Valley and the first of two Sprints for the stage.

with wineries and horse farms, the landscapes and vistas are of an undiscovered California, making it one of the most beautiful stages in the history of the Amgen Tour of California. This narrow, twisty road keeps climbing, and within 45 minutes the race will have scaled two more KOMs. It is then a long descent along the Carmel Valley River.

As the peloton rolls towards the second Sprint in the rural town of Greenfield, they will enter a well-deserved Feed Zone. Leaving Greenfield, the scenery will change as the riders enter one of the most fertile agricultural valleys in California. Here, the land is flat and the growing season is well underway. Fields of grapes give way to lettuce and strawberries. As the race passes through the towns of King City and San Lucas, the riders will head west to more rolling hills.

With more than 30 miles to Paso Robles, the riders will rarely see a flat section of road again. Splitting Lake Nacimiento and Lake San Antonio, the climbers will contest the fourth and final KOM of the stage. The final push into Paso Robles rolls past some of the best wineries in the state.

At the end of the day, the racers will have spent more than 6.5 hours on the bike as they cover 135 miles and nearly 10,000' of climbing.

Stage 5 Action

While You're There

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Stage 5 Results | Video | Press Release

With the sun shining and an enthusiastic crowd cheering, 21-year-old Peter Sagan (SVK) of Liquigas-Cannondale raced across the finish line, narrowly beating Leigh Howard (AUS) of HTC-Highroad and Ben Swift (GBR) of Sky Procycling, who placed second and third, respectively, to clinch the Stage 5 win during the 2011 Amgen Tour of California in a time of five hours, 16 minutes and three seconds. The longest stage of this year's race, the 135.1-mile route was originally intended to travel along California's iconic Highway 1, but had to be modified last month when landslides blocked the road after late winter storms. The new route tested the riders' endurance and delivered a spectacular sprint to the finish in Paso Robles, Calif., after winding its way through one of the most beautiful stages in the history of the race. Read more »

Current Weather

Seaside

Paso Robles

Current Conditions:
Cloudy, 51 F

Forecast:
Sat - Partly Cloudy. High: 59 Low: 51
Sun - AM Clouds/PM Sun. High: 61 Low: 50

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(provided by The Weather Channel)

Current Conditions:
Fair, 47 F

Forecast:
Sat - Sunny. High: 81 Low: 48
Sun - Sunny. High: 84 Low: 46

Full Forecast at Yahoo! Weather

(provided by The Weather Channel)