Amgen Tour to Skip Glendora, San Gabriel Valley

The Amgen Tour, dubbed the Tour de France of California, will no longer include Glendora in the 750-mile course, instead bypassing the San Gabriel Valley entirely for the 2013 race.

For the past two years, the premier cycling event made its way through the San Gabriel Valley, passing through Azusa and Glendora as riders made their way up the challenging Route 39 and Glendora Mountain Road.

cheering cyclists as they made their way from downtown Glendora to the steep, winding roads up Glendora Mountain Road.

But Amgen organizers announced that the 2013 race would instead go from south to north, going from Escondido and ending in Santa Rosa, skipping the stage that included parts of the east San Gabriel Valley and ended in Mount Baldy.

The news disappointed local city officials and business owners, who said they benefitted from the number of spectators who descended upon their towns to watch the cyclists in action, according to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

Amgen tour organizers did not say why the San Gabriel Valley was left off the route, but said in a written statement the new route would "bring a whole new element to the competition."

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