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As the 2008 Tour of California prepares to commence in Palo Alto on Sunday, an unprecedented field of talent will line up to contest the eight stage race. As in previous years, the field will be choc-full of talent, more so even than in the previous two editions of the race. In looking at the 16 teams registered for the event, each one has at least one rider in their ranks that could make a splash at some point in the race. Most teams have several strong riders.

For defending champion Levi Leipheimer, Astana general manager Johan Bruyneel has sent a first-class team to support the Santa Rosa resident. Janez Brajkovic, the 2007 Tour of Georgia champion, will be instrumental in helping Levi to repeat, as will Vladimir Gusev, the Classics specialist, Russian time trial champion and winner of last year’s Tour of Belgium. Veteran rider Chris Horner will lend Levi help as well in the climbing stages and will surely assist in reeling in escapes, and former Russian road race champ Serguei Ivanov will assist in the climbs as well.

CSC, one of the other powerhouse teams entered, brings a similarly potent team to California. Two-time world time trial defending champion Fabian Cancellara will ride his third straight TOC, looking to take the opening prologue and the event’s first gold jersey. Juan Jose Haedo, who made his name at the 2006 TOC, will return looking for a few sprint wins. The indomitable Jens Voigt will provide horsepower on the flats and animation in the breakaways, and Jason McCartney, last year’s third overall in California and stage 14 winner of the 2007 Vuelta could contend with the right fortune. Bobby Julich, the American out of Reno, Nevada and former Paris-Nice winner, will look to get into the overall top ten. Add last year’s Paris-Roubaix winner Stuey O’Grady to the mix, and you have arguably the best team in the race.

Rabobank, the super team out of the Netherlands, will bring a strong contingent to the Tour, with three time world champion sprinter and former Milan-San Remo winner Oscar Friere Gomez. Young climbing sensation Robert Gesink, best young rider from the 2007 Tour of California, will hope to contend again for the US Bank sponsored jersey. Another youngster making the team for Rabobank will be the Australian William Walker, who’ll look for experience against a class field.

Team High Road, Bob Stapleton’s team, previously T-Mobile, will bring a squad full of sprinters and one day specialists looking to blow open the race each day. Young Briton Mark Cavendish will look to set a foundation for his 2008 campaign and improve on his 11 victories as a rookie, as will the 21 year old Gerald Ciolek, winner of three stages of last year’s Tour of Germany. Finally, George Hincapie, the popular American sprinter turned Classic specialist, will look to repeat his two stage wins from last year’s TOC. High Road will also be debuting their new predominantly white uniforms in the American race.

The Gerolsteiner team will be a force as well, bringing several dangerous riders to California. Fabian Wegman, the reigning German road race champion, will look to animate early breakaways, while Stefan Schumacher, last year’s Amstel Gold champion, will contend in the sprint finishes. The tiny Austrian, Bernard Kohl, will hunt for points in the King of the Mountain competition.

The two French teams in the race, Bouygues Telecom and Credit Agricole groups, also bring some good talent to the west coast. Little Thomas Voekler, previous yellow jersey wearer in the 2005 Tour de France, will be active early and often in breaks, while Credit Agricole’s Australian Mark Renshaw, stage winner of this year’s Tour Down Under, will battle the big sprinters for stage victories throughout the Tour.

The lone Belgian team, Quick Step, has two legends taking the start line in Palo Alto. Paolo “il grillo” Bettini, two-time defending world champion and defending Olympic champion, will try to add to his stage victory from last year, while former world champ, Paris-Roubaix and Tour of Flanders winner “Tomke” Tom Boonen will make his debut on American soil. The two superstars will be supported by a very able corps of roulers lead by the faithful and hard working Matteo Tosatto.

l, the only Spanish outfit in the race for 2008, will bring a decent team, headlined by Rubens Bertogliati, 2002 Tour de France stage winner, and David Canada Garcia, winner of the 2006 Volta a Catalunya. They’ll no doubt be on the attack often, as l has a reputation as one of cycling’s biggest race agitators.

For the American teams, Slipstream leads the charge with a Pro Tour caliber team. David Miller, advocate of anti-doping and clean racing, will show off his British national champion jersey. The two wily Americans, defending national time trial champion David Zabriskie and Christian Vande Velde, both formerly of CSC, will shepherd up and coming Classics specialists Tyler Farrar and Steven Cozza. Former U-23 time trial champion Danny Pate will try to snag the gold jersey in the short prologue by putting in a strong performance in the test against the clock.

Also representing the American contingent will be Antonio Cruz, new team leader of the BMC team, Phil Zajicek of team Health Net, the handle bar mustached Alex Candelario of the resurgent Kelly Benefit Strategies team, and 2007 TOC stage winner Ivan Dominguez of the Toyota United racing team. Also present, ever present it seems, will be the controversial Rock racing team. With the recently re-opened Operacion Puerto investigation by Spanish authorities hanging over their heads, Tyler Hamilton, Santiago Botero and Oscar Sevilla will make the best of their remaining time in the saddle. One name suspiciously missing from the Rock line up will be Mario Cipollini, who was supposedly going to race for the Los Angeles based team.

With a world-class field in a world-class race, fans can expect an exciting contest that will no doubt be full of surprises throughout the eight day event. It will be a race to remember for years to come.