When Tom Danielson, Floyd Landis, and Dave Zabriskie cross the start line of the inaugural Amgen Tour of California this February 19, it will represent the first skirmish of the post-Lance era, and also the beginning of a bold experiment. Is cycling now so established on American soil that a multiday stage race to rival the Grand Tours can thrive here?

Telecom billionaire Philip Anschutz thinks so. His events company has committed $35 million over five years to the eight-stage, 600-mile race (amgentourofcalifornia.com), making it the best-funded cycling event in U.S. history. Other corporations, most notably Amgen, have also signed up. (Some wags note that Amgen is an awkward choice for title sponsor given that the biotech giant makes a synthetic version of EPO, the red blood cell-boosting drug associated with cycling's doping scandals.)

"It's a big race with big teams," says Danielson, who rides for the Discovery Channel. "Having it in our schedule this year has had me excited all winter." The world's top teams -- CSC, Gerolsteiner, Phonak, and T-Mobile -- will all be there to battle Discovery.

The last race of this caliber held in the U.S. was the Tour DuPont, which ran from 1991 to 1996 (and yup, Armstrong won DuPont...twice). That said, stage racing hasn't been utterly absent in the intervening years: The Dodge Tour de Georgia debuted in 2003 and has attracted top names (yeah, Armstrong's won that one, too). But, it recently lost its main sponsor.

Certainly, the California tourism bureau should be psyched: The tour twists through the Marin Headlands, Big Sur, and along the Pacific Coast Highway. Nightly recaps on ESPN2, meanwhile, should raise the profile of new riders. "It's on the list of races I want to win," says Landis, who leads the Phonak team. "Anytime you can get roads closed in California for cyclists, it's a big deal."