The consensus among riders ready to test the sixth annual Tour of California: This is the toughest course in the event's history.

The addition of two mountaintop finishes – one on Sierra Road in San Jose in Stage 4 and the other a climb up Mount Baldy to end Stage 7 – has caught cyclists' attention.

"This is the hardest condition for the Amgen Tour of California in the six years," said Levi Leipheimer, a three-time winner who has ridden in all five Amgen races.

"When I rode (Mount Baldy), I thought, 'Wow, this is worthy of the Tour de France.' This edition is definitely a mini-Tour de France. I don't think we could ask for anything more."

The eight-day stage race covers nearly 800 miles. But it's the climbs that have toughened up this year's event.

Stage 4 features two climbs, one up 4,130-foot Mount Hamilton, and the other a 1,700-foot, 3.5-mile ascent on Sierra Road.

The Mount Baldy climb in Stage 7 includes a 1,000-foot elevation gain in three miles before hitting a series of 10 steep switchbacks over 21/2 miles before a 1.2-mile ascent to the finish.

Leopard Trek's Andy Schleck, the runner-up in the Tour de France the past two years, said his fourth Tour of California looks like the most challenging.

"It's definitely by far the hardest of all three of them," he said.

Andrew Messick – the president of AEG Sports, which owns and operates the race – sounded pleased with this year's route.

"We believe we'll have a great race," he said.

Prep work – Schleck uses the Tour of California to prepare for the Tour de France in July. The three-week-long Giro d'Italia, also in May, is too taxing, he said.

"The Giro, it's too hard," he said. "It's getting harder every year. If I want to do a good Tour de France, I can't do both."

Leipheimer also said the Giro d'Italia is becoming more demanding.

"Every year, it's getting harder and harder," he said.

No snow, please – Local organizing committee officials have worked for months to ensure the race's first visit to Lake Tahoe goes off smoothly.

But they can't control the possibility of snow for Sunday's first stage.

"We live in the mountains. We deal with this," said Carol Chaplin, executive director of the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority. "We get up in the morning and hope for the best.

"We've seen this kind of stuff happen before, where the weather report says it's going to snow, and all of a sudden it won't snow."

Women's race – The event has added a women's time trial, scheduled for just before the men's Stage 6 time trial in Solvang.

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