February 18, 2007 (San Francisco, CA) – To kick off the 2007 Amgen Tour of California, February 18-25, race presenters AEG held a press conference yesterday including race officials, sponsors, athletes and team managers to discuss the 2007 event and the state and future of U.S. cycling.

Here are some quotes from the press conference”¦

Levi Leipheimer, Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team
“Last year I had very good legs in the prologue time trial and unexpectedly wore the yellow jersey on Stage 1, which finished in my hometown of Santa Rosa. That was one of the best days of my cycling career. So I am very motivated this year to win the Prologue, but overall I’m aiming to win the general classification.”

Paolo Bettini, Quick Step-Innergetic, 2006 road world champion
“I am really looking forward to racing in California. I am from a town called La California in Italy, so now I get to see the main California. So for me, this is both a professional and a personal pleasure.”

George Hincapie, Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team
“This race organization sets the standard for European race organizers to follow by asking the riders what can be done to improve the race.”

Michael Rasmussen, Rabobank Cycling Team
“When I heard this race was on the team roster for this year, I was the first to sign up. I raced (in my former career) as a mountain biker in California and I enjoy coming here. While many of the Europeans regard this as a really nice race to start the season, for the Americans this is like the world championships. Some of them may have been training since last October for it.”

David Zabriskie, Team CSC
“The Solvang time trial is a little shorter than last year’s and will not create such big gaps between the top guys. The race win could be decided in other stages with some little surprises here and there.”

Bobby Julich, Team CSC
“Myself and the CSC team expect to be animators in this race. Dave Zabriskie is one of the guys we’re expecting to do well.”

Sean Petty, Chief Operating Officer, USA Cycling
“The Amgen Tour of California was like winning the lottery for USA Cycling. The Amgen Tour of California was so hugely popular in its first year that it created a major ripple effect. The number of Union Cycliste Internationale road races in the USA has increased from six to 14 in the past year.”

John Devine, USA Cycling National Development Team
“It is overwhelming to be racing against these guys. For several years they have been my heroes. We have a pretty strong team by U-23 standards, but against these guys we might not look so choreographed. But we’re here to learn from them.”