Tour de Georgia weblog

CSC's Michaelsen wins Stage 1

VeloNews.com | Michaelsen takes Stage 1 in Georgia

CSC sprinter Lars Michaelsen was fastest to the line in Macon today, nipping Fred Rodriguez at the line to take the first stage of the 2006 Tour de Georgia.

Multiple TdG sprint stage winner Gord Fraser was sidelined by a late stage flat, while Toyota United's Ivan Dominguez and Prodir-Saunier Duval's Luciano Pagliarini crashed on the final finishing circuit.

Stage Top 10:

1) Lars Michaelsen, CSC, in 4:45:46
2) Fred Rodriguez, Davitamon-Lotto, same time
3) Caleb Manion, Jelly Belly, s.t.
4) Karl Menzies, HealthNet-Maxxis, s.t.
5) Vassili Davidenko, Navigators, s.t.
6) Ben Jacques-Maynes, KodakGallery-Sierra Nevada, s.t.
7) Juan Jose Haedo, Toyota-United, s.t.
8) Henk Vogels, Davitamon-Lotto, s.t.
9) Peter Mazur, Prodir-Saunier Duval, s.t.
10) Cesar Grajales, Navigators, s.t.

Least mnemonic team abbreviation: KodakGallery.com-Sierra Nevada, who are OSN in your race guide. That's because they used to be the Ofoto team.

VeloNews integrating Google Maps with TdG live ticker

VeloNews Ticker | Tour de Georgia Viewer

VeloNews is trying something very interesting with their Tour de Georgia ticker this year.

They're using an integrated web viewer, created by One Million Revolutions, that uses Google Maps to show a location (maybe more -- we'll see when we get a meaningful breakaway) for the riders, then adding a scroll at the bottom where you can see their latest TdG photos, like this shot of Augusta's own Godfather of Soul at the start this morning:

Alejandro Acton of Target Training and Juan Jose Haedo have won the two sprints so far, which also carry bonus time. If it comes down to a field sprint, they've got a leg up on wearing the leader's jersey tomorrow.

Quote from the cyclingnews TdG ticker:

13:28 EDT

Another rider we caught up with this morning is Dave Zabriskie (CSC). He said in the press conference yesterday that he is in perfect form for this race and he seemed very confident this morning. He said that he is confident he can win the time trial in two days time and his race will start from there. He added that the time trial course is good for him and he's also confident he and his team can hold on to the leaders jersey from there. He knows that Floyd and Danielson will be a threat on the climbing days but he thinks he can stay with them on the climbs and keep the jersey.

A gang of four is building a big lead, currently 10:30 with around 90 miles (of 128.9) covered. The four are Dan Bowman of TIAA-CREF, who spent most of Stage 1 of the 2005 TdG in front, Jackson Stewart of KodakGallery.com-Sierra Nevada, Aaron Olson of Prodir-Saunier Duval, and Neil Shirley of Jittery Joe's.

Expected TdG road closures for Tuesday and Wednesday

Georgia Navigator | Road Closures Next Week for Tour de Georgia

Georgia's traffic-tracking site notes some of the road closures expected for tomorrow's Stage 1 and Wednesday's Stage 2. Along with the race logs available on the official website (Stage 1, Stage 2) this should help if you're planning to catch the race from somewhere along the roadside.

Also:

TourdeGeorgia.com | Maps, logs, and profiles