The Amgen Tour of California starts up on Saturday and marks the beginning of a busy 2008 US racing season.

The race will kick off in Palo Alto with Saturday’s prologue - a short and fast 2.1 mile time trial. There are seven stages this year and the race will complete in Pasadena.

The tour organizers have worked hard to make the race even more spectator friendly. Four stages with finishing circuits and a more open prologue location will make it easy for anyone to see the action.

Here’s the stage breakdown:

• 2/17 - Prologue: Palo Alto individual time trial (3.4 km)
• 2/18 -  Stage1: Sausalito to Santa Rosa (156km)
• 2/19 - Stage 2: Santa Rosa to Sacramento (187km)
• 2/20 - Stage 3: Modesto to San Jose (152km)
• 2/21 - Stage 4: Seaside to San Luis Obispo (217 km)
• 2/22 - Stage 5: Solvang individul time trial (24km)
• 2/23 - Stage 6: Santa Barbara to Santa Clarita (175km)
• 2/24 - Stage 7: Santa Clarita to Pasadena (150km)

The typically beautiful weather and surroundings have been attractive to riders all around the world, and this year is no exception. Seventeen teams are competing and Tour de France notables such as Tom Boonen, Fabian Cancellera, Kim Kirchen and Levi Leipheimer are expected to appear, as is the current World Road Race Champion Paolo Bettini.

Levi Leipheimer has moved to a new team (Astana), but still hopes to repeat as the overall winner.

This year’s race will also feature the Amgen Tour of California Women’s Criterium presented by The Redwood Regional Breast Center. This race will take place on February 18th and will use part of the Men’s Stage 1 finishing circuit. This will be the first race of the year on the Women’s National Racing Calendar.

The race organizers also promise the most comprehensive anti-doping protocol in bicycle racing history. The plan stipulates that:

• All riders will have blood samples collected prior to the race. All of the blood samples will be tested for indications of blood manipulation and 30 percent of riders will have urine samples collected before the race. Urine samples will be analyzed for the presence of banned substances such steroids, hormones (including EPO) and various masking agents.The results of the blood tests will be incorporated into the UCI’s Biological Passport program. The Biological Passport is an individual electronic record for each rider, in which the results of all doping tests over a period of time are collated.
• Every day, the stage winner, current leader of the general classification and three other riders will be have a full screen for steroids, hormones (such as EPO), stimulants and various masking agents. In addition to the post-stage testing, there will be random or targeted full screen testing every day for three additional riders during evenings and mornings.
• All participating teams have agreed to guarantee that all members of their teams, including coaches, trainers and support staff, are clear of any open doping investigations.The roster of riders will be provided by the participating team and will then be submitted to USA Cycling and UCI to confirm that there are no open investigations.

Finally, for those that can’t be there in person, this year’s race will also be presented on the Versus TV channel and on the Adobe  Tour Tracker via the Tour of California website. Web users will be able to use GPS technology to track specific riders, watch a live video stream of each race and view up to date race photos.