Tour of California race guide

Get the lowdown on the eight-day American stage race with our bite-size guide.

The Tour of California (15-22 May) is now an established fixture on the mid-season calendar and the 11th edition looks set to provide eight days of enthralling action.

The route is one of the toughest ever and will visit the legendary Laguna Seca raceway for the first time on an interesting climax to stage four.

Our lineup

We're taking a powerful squad to America in an attempt to win the title, with Pete Kennaugh and Lars Petter Nordhaug both arriving in good form following their strong showings at the Tour de Yorkshire.

Danny van Poppel will take on the sprinting mantle on the back of his stage win in Yorkshire, with Andy Fenn and Gianni Moscon forming crucial parts of his lead out train.

The experienced Xabier Zandio and neo-pro Alex Peters are likely to play a key role in the Golden State's mountains, while world champion Vasil Kiryienka will have his eyes on the stage six time trial.

Race overview

The eight-day race is now in it's 11th season and this year's course looks set to be one of the toughest yet.

There's almost 20,000m of climbing in store and the general classification will be seriously shaken up on stages four and five. Both days exceed 200km in distance and come on the back of a brutal summit finish on day three.

The Laguna Seca raceway will provide an excited climax to stage four, while there's one individual time trial and at least four opportunities for the sprinters.

Key stage

At 173km, stage three isn't as long as stages four and five, but the summit finish atop Gibraltar Road is likely to catch riders out in the peloton. The final ascent is a gruelling 13.4km climb at an average gradient of 7.3%, maxing out at 14.6%, and whoever makes it to the top first is almost certain to move into the overall lead.

Our history

Sir Bradley Wiggins claimed his last race victory in Team Sky colours when he won the Tour of California in 2014. He paved the way for that title with a stunning triumph in the stage two time trial.

We won back-to-back stages in 2011 when Greg Henderson and Ben Swift took sprint victories on stages two and three, while Sergio Henao finished third overall last year as we topped the team classification, aided by Ian Boswell and Pete Kennaugh finishing seventh and ninth respectively.

Riders to watch

Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) returns to the race after sealing a dramatic win last year when he battled hard on the queen stage to preserve the yellow jersey by a mere three seconds.

Last year's runner-up Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx - Quick-Step) is hoping to go one better this time around, while Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) and Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) look set to do battle for sprint wins. 2014 winner Sir Bradley Wiggins (Team Wiggins) will also be in California as he continues his preparations for the Rio Olympics.

TV coverage

The Tour of California will be shown live on Eurosport 1 in the UK from 10pm. The last stage will switch to Eurosport 2 with coverage starting at the earlier time of 9pm.