The Tour's opening stage features the world's best cyclists circling Lake Tahoe.  Packed with steep climbs and sharp downhill sprints, Andy Chapman with the North Lake Tahoe Resort Association calls it an "iconic" route.

Chapman: "We feel that it just will really set the stage for what will be a spectacular eight days."

Stage Two starts at Squaw Valley and winds downhill, taking a side route through Beale Air Force Base on the way to Sacramento.  And Stage Three runs from Auburn through Folsom before ending in Modesto.  Chapman says Tahoe tourism officials are planning 10 days of events leading up to the Tour.

Chapman: "The week of and weekend of the race - with the thousands of people that follow this type of race, being the largest race in North America and really the second most important in the cycling industry - we'll have a ton of people up here."

The race starts on Sunday, May 15th and finishes eight days later in Southern California.