Organisers of the Amgen Tour of California men's and women's races released their 2019 team rosters today, with both races featuring multiple returning champions to battle it out past iconic California landmarks and up some of the state's most notorious climbs. The Amgen Tour of California men's race will feature the US national team for the first time this year when the race rolls out of Sacramento. USA Cycling will field a roster of riders whose trade teams aren't competing in the race, joining 18 other teams on the roads from the start in the Golden State's capitol on May 12 to the finish in Pasadena on May 18. Thirteen WorldTour teams have signed up for the men's race in its third year on the WorldTour calendar, joining five Pro Continental teams and the US national team to form the biggest men's field yet. Defending champion Egan Bernal (Team Sky) will take leadership of Team Sky at the Giro d'Italia this year and will skip California, but 2017 overall winner George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma) will return with US teammate Sepp Kuss, who came on at the end of his neo-pro season last year with the Dutch team and won the overall at the Tour of Utah. ADVERTISEMENT Tejay van Garderen, the 2013 overall winner and second last year, will return with his new team EF Education First. Rohan Dennis (Bahrain-Merida), the current time trial world champion who was second in California in 2016, will line up to test his climbing legs as well. Peter Sagan, the so-called King of California who won the overall in 2015, will return with Bora-Hansgrohe in hopes of adding to his record 16 stage wins. He'll take on Dimension Data's Mark Cavendish, Katusha-Alpecin's Marcel Kittel and Cofidis' Nacer Bouhanni in the bunch sprints, as well as expected fastmen from Deceuninck-QuickStep, Bahrain-Merida, Trek-Segafredo and UAE Team Emirates. "I'm really looking forward to coming back for my 10th Amgen Tour of California," Sagan said in a statement released with the team announcement. "I really love the Amgen Tour of California…come visit us and enjoy." Hall will return to defend women's title 2019 Tour of California teams 2019 Tour of California Women's Race teams
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