The recently expanded 750-mile, nine-day stage race, considered to be the most important and popular race held on U.S. soil, will take 17 of the world's top professional cycling teams from Sacramento to San Diego County. The race will include two-time defending race champion Levi Leipheimer and seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, among other top cyclists. Scheduled from February 14-22, 2009, the fourth-annual race will visit 16 host cities for official stage starts and finishes along the route.
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For the first time, the Amgen Tour of California professional cycling race will be broadcast internationally. The race will be broadcast live in more than 90 countries available to more than 200 million households across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Oceania and Africa. The unprecedented coverage is due to the partnership established with Amaury Sport Organisation which has assisted AEG with the international television distribution of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California, further strengthening the partnership between the two cycling tour owners announced in June 2008.
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Amongst the line-up of broadcasters, Eurosport, the leader in cycling broadcast coverage in Europe, will broadcast the race live in 77 countries throughout Europe and Asia-Pacific. Abu Dhabi Sports in the Middle East, HiSports in Nigeria, J-Sports in Japan, SBS in Australia and Sky TV in New Zealand are also amongst the race's international broadcast partners. In addition to the live coverage, highlights will be made available to fans in a total of 201 countries and territories, in 22 languages by a total of 23 channels.
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Follow the Tour with the official website :
www.amgentourofcalifornia.com~
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http://www.letour.fr/2009/TDF/COURSE/us/actus.html#zone16
According to folklorists, there is no written evidence for a "Friday the 13th" superstition before the 19th century.[4][5][6] The earliest known documented reference in English occurs in an 1869 biography of Gioachino Rossini:
