Amgen Tour of California announces team lineups for 2017 races

Mark Cavendish and Peter Sagan have 25 stage wins between them at the Amgen Tour of California. The two veterans will be facing off again at this year’s event.

“I’ve been racing in the Amgen Tour of California for years now, and it’s an event I look forward to,” said Cavendish (10 stage wins), who races with Team Dimension Data out of South Africa. “Not only are their courses challenging, they are incredibly scenic and attract one of the best groups of fans we see every year.”

Sagan (15 wins, a Tour record), who races for Germany’s BORA-hansgrohe, added: “Racing in California is a challenge and a joy every time. I hope to continue building on the success I’ve had at the Amgen Tour of California, and know all the riders will do our best to give the incredible fans another good show this year.”

AEG announced the team selections for the May 14-20 event on Thursday. In addition to Dimension Data and BORA-hansgrohe, nine other UCI WorldTour Teams will take part: BMC Racing Team, Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling Team and Trek-Segafredo of the U.S., Team Sunweb of Germany, Katusha Alpecin of Sweden, Astana Pro Team of Kazakhstan, Quick-Step Floors of Belgium, Team LottoNL-Jumbo of the Netherlands and Team Sky of Great Britain.

The field will be rounded out with three Pro Continental teams (Team Novo Nordisk and UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team of the U.S. and Cofidis, Solutions Crédits of France) and two Continental teams (Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis and Rally Cycling of the U.S.).

AEG also announced the lineup of teams for the 2017 Amgen Breakaway from Heart Disease women’s race, which runs May 11-14: Cylance Pro Cycling, Hagens Berman | Supermint, Rally Cycling, Sho-Air TWENTY20, Team Colavita | Bianchi, Team TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank, UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team and Visit Dallas DNA Pro Cycling of the U.S., Boels-Dolmans Cycling Team and Team Sunweb of the Netherlands, Drops and Wiggle High5 Pro Cycling of Great Britain, Astana Women’s Team of Kazakhstan, BePink Cogeas of Italy, Canyon/SRAM Racing of Germany and Lares-Waowdeals Women Cycling Team of Belgium.

Boels-Dolmans’ Megan Guarnier said winning the 2016 event “was one of the highlights of my season, and I can’t wait to see what’s ahead for me and my team in California this May.”

The Tour of California will start in Sacramento, finish in Pasadena and hit many scenic areas along the way, including Mt. Baldy, Big Bear Lake and the Angeles National Forest. The Breakaway from Heart Disease women’s race will run from South Lake Tahoe to Sacramento.

charles.schilken@latimes.com

Twitter: @chewkiii