By Khalida Sarwari
Cyclists competing in the Amgen Tour of California will mark a halfway point when they reach the race’s first-ever mountaintop finish in San Jose on Wednesday afternoon.
The fourth stage of the tour will depart from downtown Livermore at 11:45 a.m. and finish on a summit of Sierra Road in San Jose between 3:15 p.m. and 3:45 p.m.
This 81.8-mile segment will take the cyclists through three grueling climbs, including the backside of Mt. Hamilton and Sierra Road.
The Livermore-to-San Jose stage of the race takes racers 1,900 feet up Mt. Hamilton for a two-mile climb to the observatory before the challenging descent down the west side of Mt. Hamilton and a few miles of flat riding. The race will then turn onto Sierra Road, where the riders will face a 3.5-mile, 1,700-foot ascent.
Eighteen cycling teams are competing in the Tour de France-style cycling road race, which began on Sunday in South Lake Tahoe. They will ride more than 800 miles through California, finishing May 22 in Thousand Oaks.
Steven Brewster, a spokesman for San Jose’s Office of Economic Development said he estimates there will be 30,000 people watching along the route from Livermore to San Jose.
From 2:30 p.m. to 3:45 p.m., road closures could impact the areas of Alum Rock Avenue, in the East Highlands area, from Miguelita Road to Kirk Road; Mckee Road, from Alum Rock Avenue to Kyle Road; Toyon Avenue, from McKee Road to Penitencia Creek Road; Penitencia Creek Road, from Toyon Avenue to Kyle Road; and Piedmont Road, from North White Road to Pinnacle Drive.