Shawn Hunter Race Quotations

In building the Amgen Tour of California in its first year, we are excited to find such a committed partner as KB Home to help further the healthy lifestyle messages of this race and the excitement about cycling to communities across the state.

One of our goals for this race is to help raise the level of the sport in America. With Americans as the top-five riders into today's time trial and the top-five in the overall classification, the strength of U.S. riders in international cycling is evident here in California.

With a field of cycling teams that is clearly considered world-caliber, fans have shown their excitement and appreciation for the race by attending in record numbers. With each day of racing becoming more exciting and dramatic, it is clear that the coverage, word-of-mouth and results have established this race as one of the greatest sporting events held in recent years.

We continue to be thrilled with the tremendous support from the great California fans we have seen every day in record numbers. I truly believe that years from now, fans of this great sport will look back upon this event as a true moment of truth that played a significant role in the development of road cycling as a major sports competition. With records for largest-ever crowds for both a cycling race and an athletic event held in the state of California on track to be broken, we can easily witness first-hand the popularity of cycling to an incredibly broad and diverse group of all ages.

It's clear that the race is taking on a momentum of its own; the crowd support on the road today was beyond anything we've seen yet. From the start in San Luis Obispo and on through all of the towns along the course, people were out in the thousands to support the best cyclists in the world race to Santa Barbara.