Ryan Anderson gears up for Amgen Tour of California

Canada’s Ryan Anderson has his sights set on strong performances at the Amgen Tour of California. The UCI 2.HC race will begin on May 11 in Sacramento and conclude on May 18 in Thousand Oaks.

Optum presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies will host a second pre-season team training camp focused on pre-riding the stages of the this year’s Tour of California route.

“After riding a few more of the stages for the Amgen Tour of California, I’ll start my racing in Europe,” said Anderson, who briefly wore the king of the mountain jersey following Stage 5 during the 2010 edition. “My goal is to be riding strong right from the start this year and to come into Amgen Tour of California riding at my best. I feel I am on the right track to be riding really well there.”

His team recently wrapped up its initial training camp in Oxnard, California, where both the men’s and women’s teams spent hours each day training in the warmer climate.

“Camp went really well this year,” Anderson said. “The whole team came into camp in good shape and we were able to get right down to work from Day 1. The sports directors did a great job with the flow of camp this year; the hours on the bike just seemed to tick over.”

Anderson had a successful season last year with podiums at the inaugural Tour of Alberta, Tour de Delta and Tour of Elk Grove, and top-10 performances at the USA Pro Challenge.