Despite only being able to field a five-rider squad three short of the standard team roster Rock Racing will compete in the 2008 Amgen Tour of California.

Rock Racing Team Owner Michael Ball said the teams riders and staff collectively decided Saturday night not to pull out of the race after race organizer AEG declared that three riders on the teams original race roster Tyler Hamilton, Santiago Botero and Oscar Sevilla would not be allowed to start.

In a press conference Saturday morning, Ball announced that each of the three riders national federations had declared them free and clear to start the eight-day, 650-mile race. None are subject of any open investigations related to doping.

At a press conference by race organizer AEG, officials announced that terms of a contract between the race organization and each of the 17 teams in the race led to the exclusion of the three Rock Racing riders.