Feb 28th '09, ToC. Vennell: You only have to look at the start list of riders, with riders such as Levi Leipheimer, Fabian Cancellara and of course the legendary Lance Armstrong, to list a few, to realize that getting a start in the Tour of California is a big deal.

Feb 23rd '09, Stage 8 ToC. This year was the first time the Tour of California had a ninth stage, and it was not an easy one. With four King of the Mountain climbs everyone including the people who had camped on Palomar Mountain for two days, expected to see some action.  Glen Chadwick provided that action for the kiwi supporters.

23 Feb Stage8 ToC. 156km from Rancho Bernado to Escondido.   Levi takes the tour, Schleck wins the stage, Chadwick keeps it interesting.

Feb 22 Stage 7 TOC. Double olympic medallist Hayden Roulston almost won today's Stage 7 in the Amgen Tour of California as he showed his power by attacking and attacking his ten man breakaway.  He is now the 21st fastest rider at the Amgen Tour of California.

Feb 21 Stage 6 ToC. 24km flat out on a bike may not be everyones idea of a good time but the kiwi contingent of Hayden Roulston, Peter Latham, Jeremy Vennell and Glen Chadwick were mixing it up with the best in the world at todays Amgen Tour of California Individual Time Trial. Vennell was the best of the kiwis ending in 17th place over all.

Feb 21, Stage6 ToC.  Levi Leipheimer smashed the rest of the field today and won today's 24km race of truth in 30m40s, eight seconds ahead of the field.  He extends his General Classification lead to 36 seconds.

Feb 20^th, ToC.  If anyone wants a chance of taking the yellow jersey off leader Levi Leipheimer they’ll have to “ride it like you stole it’. Perhaps Lance Armstrong will have the best chance since its his bike which Trek cheekily added the phrase to.

Feb 20th Stage 5, ToC. Glen Chadwick gave the kiwis a thrill when he broke away from the peloton and stayed away for over three and a half hours until being caught in the last 3km of the longest stage in the Amgen Tour of California.  

Feb 20th,  Cavendish took his fourth stage win of the season today as he again outsprinted rival Tom Boonen . "My goals are my goals, not dreams; they are targets and I'll do whatever necessary to make those targets. So when somebody asks me if I'm the fastest, I think I am. I think I'm unrivaled." said Cavendish after yesterday's win.

Feb 19th, Stage4 ToC.  Mark Cavendish said that he wanted to "cross the line with my hands in the air" during this tour.  The Team Columbie Highroad sprinter did that today in the 186km Stage 4 of the Amgen Tour of California.

Photo (c) Ken Conley 

Feb19, Stage4 ToC. Bringing you results and information about the four kiwi riders in the the Amgen Tour of California as it comes to hand.

Feb 18, Stage3 ToC. Hayden Roulston led a perfectly executed Cervelo Test Team strategy which pulled Thor Hushovd through "a stunning final km sprint" to win in stage 3 of today's Amgen Tour of California.

Feb 18, Stage3 ToC. Cervelo Test Team's experienced both the highs and lows of pro cycling today. They started the stage with the worst possible outcome, Ted King crashed in the neutral zone and abandoned within the first 30 minutes, but they finished the race with a spectacular team effort to get Thor Hushovd across the line first.

Feb 18. Stage3, ToC. In another wet day of competition at the Amgen Tour of California twelve riders, almost ten percent of the total field, abandoned the race, but the kiwi contingent is going strong.

Many of the pro riders are twittering to their fans directly after their races; here is a selection of the comments directly after each stage of the Amgen Tour of California;