One day after the individual time trial in Bakersfield, the 2012 Tour of California offers a grueling challenge from Palmdale to Big Bear Lake for Stage 6. The course itself is just 115.7 miles long, but the cyclists will face four climbs and plenty of elevation (map).
The first climb of the day comes at Mt. Emma just 12 miles or so into the race. The real challenge comes after that at Angeles Crest Highway, a 7,000-foot summit after a 12-mile climb. The riders eventually descend several thousand feet down before making the next climb at Highway 138, about 75 miles into the course. Another 10 miles later, the last climb comes at Highway 18. But even at 6,000 feet in elevation at this point, the course still has more elevation to give. The cyclists will ascend to over 7,000 feet once again before falling just below that mark as they approach Big Bear Lake.
Garmin-Barracuda's David Zabriskie now wears the yellow jersey and leads the general classification following his victory on Stage 5. He holds 34-second lead over Tejay Van Garderen. Garmin teammates Andrew Talansky and Tom Danielson are 48 seconds and 1:07 behind Zabriskie, respectively.
Start time: 11:25 a.m. MT
Projected finish time: 4:49 p.m. MT
TV: NBC Sports Network, 3:00 p.m .MT
Stick with this Tour of California StoryStream, cycling blog Podium Cafe and the Tour of California's official site for more race coverage as it happens.