Horner expected to compete in Tour of California

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Defending champion Chris Horner and three-time winner Levi Leipheimer are expected to be in the field for the 2012 Amgen Tour of California, which will include a 130-mile fourth stage that will make for the race's longest day.

The seventh annual race, scheduled May 13-20, is expected to include about 140 of cycling's top riders.

The roughly 800-mile route, which was announced Wednesday, will begin in Santa Rosa, Calif., and take riders into the rolling hills of Sonoma County.

The fourth stage will take riders from Sonora to Clovis during the race's longest day.

The concluding eighth stage begins on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills and finishes in downtown Los Angeles.

Participating teams and individual riders will be announced in the weeks just prior to the race.