These photographs are from the start/finish line in downtown Santa Rosa. For this stage the race first circled downtown Santa Rosa for two warm-up laps then went on a small loop near Santa Rosa, came back through the start/finish for the first awarded sprint, and then went on a long loop out to the coast and back for the final finish. This page has photographs before the race, the warm up laps, the first awarded sprint, the finish and the awards ceremony.

For Stage 2 the photographs are on course about 2 miles from the finish in downtown Soquel. These photos show the Liquigas-Cannondale team leading the race and setting up Peter Sagan for his sprint and win at the finish at Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz County. The final miles of this stage went through the Santa Cruz Mountains on some very demanding roads, and this broke the Peloton up into many groups.

These photographs of Stage 3 are from two locations of this race. For the first time in the history of the Tour, California's Mount Diablo was climbed. Mount Diablo is very popular with cyclists in the San Francisco Bay area and a huge crowd turned out for the race. Photos are from the summit of the course and show Sebastian Salas taking the KOM and the Peloton that followed. There are also photographs of the sprint to the finish in Livermore and the awards ceremony afterwards.

For Stage 4 there are photographs of events before the start of the race in Sonora, the start of the race, the finish in Clovis, and the press conference afterwards. Peter Sagan one this Stage of the race again, making him the winner of all of the stages of the 2012 Tour so far and the racer with the most stage wins in the history of the Tour.

The photographs on this page show the Start and Finish areas before the race and at least one photograph of every racer on the course. This Stage was won by David Zabriskie, who was able to average 30.9mph, 49.4kmh, on the course in the Bakersfield foot-hills.

These photographs are at the Finish line in Big Bear Lake. Stage 6 of the 2012 Tour of California was the first time in the history of the race that a breakaway was successful and finished ahead of the Peloton.

The demanding climbs of the 'Queen Stage' shook up the overall standings of the Tour and determined the winner of the Race, Robert Gesink.

Stage 8 started in Beverly Hills, then wove through West Hollywood and Hollywood before entering Los Angeles. At 15.2 miles into the Stage they crossed the finish line at the L.A. Live complex for the first time, then did 6 laps on a 4.6 mile circuit course through downtown L.A., finishing the Stage and the Tour after a total of 42.6 miles.

The final awards were quite the spectacle, all the leaders and award winners had a great time. The leaders then reflected on the Tour at the press conference.