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Amgen Tour Of California Cycling Race Will Not Be Held In 2020

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Facing mounting economic challenges, the organizers of the Amgen Tour Of California -- one of the largest annual cycling events in the United States -- announced Tuesday the popular cycling race will not be held in 2020.

Kristin Klein, president of the Amgen Tour of California and executive vice president of AEG Sports, said it has "become more challenging each year to mount the race."

The multi-stage event has held stops throughout the Bay Area including San Francisco, San Jose and Santa Rosa during the 14 years it has been held. It's stage winners are among the most famous in the history cycling including Mark Cavendish, Peter Sagan, Bradley Wiggins and local favorite Levi Leipheimer.

"This has been a very difficult decision to make, but the business fundamentals of the Amgen Tour of California have changed since we launched the race 14 years ago," Klein said in a news release. "It has become more challenging each year to mount the race. This new reality has forced us to re-evaluate our options."

Klein remained hopeful the event could return in 2021 as the organizers were "actively assessing every aspect of our event to determine if there is a business model that will allow us to successfully relaunch."

The international competition carried the distinction of being the only U.S.-based event that has both its men's and women's races listed on the UCI WorldTour calendar while being the only event of its kind that concurrently produces men's and women's stage races that offer equal prize money.

The women's stages were some of the most competitive and anticipated on the annual professional cycling calendar. Among the competitors this year were current race champion, Olympic gold medalist and world champion, Anna van der Breggen and Chloe Dygert, Olympic silver medalist, current UCI world time trial champion and six-time UCI gold medalist.

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