Tour de Georgia weblog

2007 Tour de Georgia teams announced

Rome News - Tribune | Top cycling teams to compete in Tour de Georgia

Tyler Hamilton and his Tinkoff Credit System team and David Millar of Prodir-Saunier Duval are two new additions likely to ride in this year's Tour de Georgia.

The event's 15 teams are confirmed, and it's mostly the usual suspects.

Among ProTour teams:

• Team CSC
• Discovery Channel
• Quick Step-Innergetic
• Predictor-Lotto
• Prodir-Saunier Duval (which races in Europe as Saunier Duval-Prodir)

Three familiar Pro Continental squads are joined by Hamilton's Tinkoff Credit System:

• Health Net presented by Maxxis
• Team Slipstream presented by Chipotle
• Navigators Insurance
• Tinkoff Credit System

Five US Continental squads:

• Jittery Joe's
• Priority Health presented by Bissell
• Toyota-United
• BMC
• Colavita/Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light

And, of course, the USA Cycling National Development Team.

There are no rider confirmations yet, but expect Discovery Channel to bring Leipheimer, 2005 Tour de Georgia champion Tom Danielson, and George Hincapie; CSC to bring Dave Zabriskie, Juan José Haedo, and Bobby Julich; and for Quick Step to again NOT bring Tom Boonen or Paolo Bettini. Instead, let's hope for Freddy Rodgriguez, Chris Horner, and Cadel Evans.

Tyler Hamilton will be competing in the U.S. professionally for the first time in 6 years:

"I'm really looking forward to racing inside the United States again. I'm hoping the good block of early season racing I'll have under my belt by April will serve me well. The last pro cycling race I competed in inside the U.S. was in San Francisco in 2001," Hamilton said about his return to professional cycling. "I hope that we can make a good showing at the Tour of Georgia. The team is really strong and I have a lot of confidence in them. We'll pick the leader based on who is riding best at the time."

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing Team Slipstream in action, and to the battle on Brasstown wth Hamilton, Leipheimer, Cesar Grajales, and Tom Danielson in the mix.

Floyd lands Paris-Nice

VeloNews | Landis triumphs at Paris-Nice

The World's Fastest Mennonite has done it again, adding the Paris-Nice title to his freshly won overall at the Tour of California.

Markus Zberg took the final stage, fighting back to Evgeni Petrov and Alberto Contador after getting dropped, then beating both to the line.

Landis said the victory was a confidence-builder for Phonak, who showed they could defend a leader's jersey, in a race not ideally fit to his strengths:

"It was a difficult race to win because there were no mountaintop finishes and there were no long time trials," Landis said. "In some ways I was lucky. I had a good day on a very difficult stage. At the Tour, you don't get lucky and win. You have to be good every day for three weeks."

The next races on Landis' calendar are the Criterium International, the Tour de Georgia, and the Giro d'Italia.

Patxi Vila was 2nd overall, and Antonio Colom, who soloed away from the field late Sunday to move up the leaderboard, took 3rd overall.

Bobby Julich didn't start Sunday's last stage, after crashing on Saturday. Tom Boonen is looking ahead to Milan-San Remo this weekend, and decided a day with 4 categorized climbs might take a little too much out of his legs.

Update: USA Today named Landis its U.S. Olympic Athlete of the Week for the win.

Also:

cyclingnews.com | Paris-Nice Stage 7: A new American hero

Daily Peloton | Paris Nice Final

Phonak Cycling Team | Floyd Landis: “This is my greatest triumph”

Photos:

GrahamWatson.com | Paris-Nice Stage 7 photo gallery

cyclingnews.com | Paris-Nice Stage 7 photo gallery

Danielson takes Brasstown Bald, overall lead at Tour de Georgia

Sorry for no "as it happens" updates: I've been out on the course, suffering from an unbelievably cold day for a Georgia April.

My vantage point: Hog Pen Gap, 17 miles from the finish, at the day's 3rd King of the Mountains line. We saw the very scattered snow flurry, and had a brief bout of sleet, just as the lead group arrived.

The crowds were incredible through the mountains; Dave from Operation Gadget said parking was gone for 5 miles approaching the spur road to Brasstown Bald. Where I was, at Hog Pen Gap, roadside spaces were gone by around 2, with the riders eventually coming through around 4:30.

In Gainesville this morning, Viatcheslav Ekimov predicted that Discovery Channel would take the stage and the overall lead today, but didn't name any names.

As the peloton rolled into the mountains, Jittery Joe's rider Tim Johnson took a flyer, and Discovery's Jason McCartney covered the break. The two would ride together over the day's first two climbs, building a lead of almost 2:30 at times. Discovery's José-Luis Rubiera took 3rd over each climb to defend his King of the Mountains jersey.

Shortly before reaching Hog Pen, Lance Armstrong launched an attack, and was covered by almost all of the stage and GC hopefuls, including yellow jersey Floyd Landis, Levi Leipheimer, Tom Danielson, Saul Raisin and Trent Lowe (fighting it out for the young rider's jersey), Saunier Duval-Prodir's Nicolas Fritsch and Marco Pinotti, and, by the Hog Pen summit, Bobby Julich and a teammate (picture at right - click for larger).

I say "and a teammate," because some sources say it was Andy Schleck, but just after the group passed Hog Pen Gap, Christian Vande Velde launched an attack that he sustained all the way onto Brasstown Bald. Reviewing the tape (wow, TdFblog video), I think it's Vande Velde riding with Julich. On the other hand, a couple of other CSC riders passed by maybe 30 seconds behind Armstrong's group, and could have caught up on the descent. At some point, this became a group of 15, adding Azevedo, Blaudzun, Schleck, Vandborg, Nathan O'Neill, and Justin England (with Vande Velde off the front).

Armstrong rode out in pursuit of Vande Velde, with Azevedo, then Danielson and Leipheimer attacked. This put pressure on Floyd Landis, and allowed Armstrong to ride in his slipstream with a teammate up the road. Danielson and Leipheimer rode much of the last 5 kilometers together, slowly gapping Armstrong and Landis. With Leipheimer placed 10 seconds ahead of Danielson on GC, Discovery's Danielson opened up a gap on Leipheimer in the last kilometer. At the finish, Danielson took the lead, with 5 seconds to spare.

Back with Landis, Armstrong was finally able to get a split at the summit, and finished 10 seconds clear of Landis, and (Dave Aiello notes) pointing defiantly back down the mountain.

At left, the once and future yellow jersey (click through for larger picture).

Stage Top 10:
1) Tom Danielson, Discovery
2) Levi Leipheimer, Gerolsteiner, at :15
3) Lance Armstrong, Discovery, at :59
4) Floyd Landis, Phonak, at 1:09
5) Bobby Julich, Team CSC, at 1:44
6) Marco Pinotti, Prodir-Saunier Duval, at 1:55
7) Trent Lowe, Jittery Joe's-Kalahari, at 2:10
8) Saul Raisin, Credit Agricole, at 2:10
9) Michael Blaudzun, CSC, at 2:33
10) Andy Schleck, CSC, at 2:33

Preliminary Overall Results:
1) Tom Danielson, Discovery
2) Levi Leipheimer, Gerolsteiner, at :05
3) Floyd Landis, Phonak, at :09
4) Bobby Julich, CSC, at 1:10
5) Lance Armstrong, Discovery, at 1:41

Lowe holds on to the white (under-23) jersey, while Rubiera will win the King of the Mountains, since there are no KoM points available tomorrow.

And, of course, barring a comet crashing into his helmet, it looks like Discovery Channel has a stage on which to introduce Tom Danielson, who is going to win the 2005 Tour de Georgia. Looks like I have to create a "Tom Danielson" category.

With all the tough stages out of the way, what have we learned about Lance Armstrong's fitness? Bobby Julich, who clearly targeted his fitness to the early season, lost 43 seconds to the six-timer, which must be encouraging for Armstrong. Was Armstrong going all out on the last climb, or biding his time, helping Danielson gap Landis while Landis marked the wrong Disco? I guess we'll know in July.

Also, Levi Leipheimer, ladies and gentlemen; what a gutty ride -- he was also isolated from any teammates for the entire last climb, and put 45 seconds into Armstrong, and almost a minute into Landis.

On the other hand, I wouldn't want to spend the night with the CSC's. Christian Vande Velde takes the "consolation prize:" most aggressive rider. They had the numbers in the break, but couldn't get up Brasstown Bald with the Discos, Landis, and Leipheimer. As a result, they'll miss out on the team prize, which they took last year, and Julich will finish in the bitterest position -- one step off the podium.

Also:

VeloNews | Danielson wins stage, seizes lead at Georgia

VeloNews wrap-up, with some good Casy Gibson photos.

procycling.com | Armstrong: "Danielson's something special"

ThePaceline.com (free reg. req.) | Stage 5 Race Report

Tour de Georgia Stage 5: Gainesville to Brasstown Bald

Today is the key stage of the 2005 Tour de Georgia. The GC leaders are all bunched within 2 minutes of Floyd Landis, and CSC has David Zabriskie and Bobby Julich looming within 30 seconds of the race lead.

Only 90 riders are left in the race, as 13 riders, including Jonathan Sundt and Ben Brooks, finished outside the time limit, and 14 others, including Discovery's Michael Barry, Ivan Dominguez, and Stage 1 flyer Dan Bowman, dropped out. Two Colavita riders, Mark McCormack and Juan José Haedo (who won a sprint on Friday's stage) were disqualified for unspecified reasons (anybody hear anything? Update: As you might guess, they were DQ'ed for drafting).

Weather is much cooler today than earlier this week, with temperatures this morning in the mid-50s and winds coming out of the west to northwest. The high is expected to be only about 60. Local weatherman says there's a wind advisory, with gusts of up to 25-30 mph expected.

The stage today just gets harder and harder, starting in poultry capital Gainesville, rolling through the only sprint line of the day, and then starting to climb. There are 4 categorized climbs on the day, spaced fairly evenly about 17 miles/28 kilometers apart.

The 3rd-Category climb to Dicks Creek Gap is a long, gradual climb, with some short descents worked in, and a feed zone just before the final climb of perhaps 800 vertical feet.

The 2nd-Category climb to Unicoi Gap is both taller and steeper, gaining almost 1000 vertical feet ahead of a long descent of almost 1500 vertical feet.

Next is 1st-Category Hogpen Gap, where riders will climb almost 2000 feet to 3518 feet above sea level. A very steep descent down the backside puts the riders at the base of the climb to Georgia's highest point, the Hors Categorie Brasstown Bald.

Brasstown Bald stands almost 4800 feet above sea level, and riders will suffer through about 2800 feet of that over just 7.5 miles.

Last year's winner, Cesar Grajales, now with Navigators, lives in Athens, about 75 miles away, and had a suspiciously low finish on yesterday's stage. He may have been resting up to try a big move today.

Jason McCartney and José Luis Rubiera showed yesterday, but Discovery Channel's other strong climbers, Tom Danielson and Jose Azevedo, stayed with Lance Armstrong in the chasing group all day. With Danielson, Ekimov, Armstrong, and Azevedo all within 2 minutes of Landis, who was isolated for the late stages of yesterday's stage, look for Discovery's strategy to be some tag-team breakaways.

CSC has three men in the top 10: Zabriskie just 19 seconds behind Landis, Julich at 28 seconds, and Stage 4 winner Brian Vandborg at 1:39.

Also highly placed is Gerolsteiner's Levi Leipheimer, sitting 50 seconds back.

Tour de Georgia Stage 4: Dalton to Dahlonega

Today's stage is a near-repeat of last year's Stage 5, rolling from the carpet capital of the world to a Georgia gold-rush town set in the Appalachian foothills.

Last year, Jason McCartney, then riding for Health Net, put 53 seconds into the field on a stage with 19,000 feet of climbing and 5 King of the Mountains lines. VeloNews later named his stage the 2004 Ride of the Year, and it helped catapult McCartney onto Team Discovery Channel this year.

It's not a mountaintop finish, so the field will have 14 miles to regroup after the last climb of Woody Gap (the peloton climbs it twice today) near Suches.

The big question: Is Discovery riding for defending Tour de Georgia champion Lance Armstrong, who lost 1:46 to leader Floyd Landis yesterday, or do they try to break Tom Danielson, placed 42 seconds ahead of Armstrong, and get him some attention as the future of American cycling?

Also look for CSC and Phonak to fight it out, with CSC looking to place Bobby Julich and Dave Zabriskie, and Phonak trying to defend Floyd Landis' race lead. Meanwhile Levi Leipheimer sits 50 seconds back, about midway between Landis and Armstrong.

Flickr photo set of today's ITT

Floyd Landis warming up
Originally uploaded by Frank Steele.

I've posted a Flickr photo set, where you can view pictures of today's stage individually, or as a slideshow.

I still may post a couple of the other shots individually.

Also:

ThePaceline.com (free reg. required) | Casey Gibson ITT photo gallery

CyclingNews.com | Stage 3 photo gallery

Landis smacks the competition at Tour de Georgia time trial

Phonak's Floyd Landis "ran like he stole something" at today's Rome time trial.

Landis came in at 39:58 on a wet 18.6-mile course.

Lance Armstrong, who won this stage last year in 39:51, came in 9th on the day, at 41:44, trailing two of his own teammates, Tom Danielson, 7th at 40:58, and Viatcheslav Ekimov, at 41:19.

Top 10:
1) Floyd Landis, Phonak, 39:58
2) Dave Zabriskie, CSC, 40:17
3) Chris Baldwin, Navigators, 40:20
4) Bobby Julich, CSC, 40:26
5) Nathan O'Neill, Navigators, 40:41
6) Levi Leipheimer, Gerolsteiner, 40:48
7) Tom Danielson, Discovery, 40:58
8) Viatcheslav Ekimov, Discovery, 41:19
9) Lance Armstrong, Discovery, 41:44
10) Brian Vanborg, CSC, 41:45

The heat is on if Armstrong is to repeat as the overall winner. He's brought a very good climbing team, so he's not out of contention.

Dave at Operation Gadget has a stage recap up, as well, with quotes from some of the riders. He told me afterward that Landis will have a press conference this evening, as well.

Pictures to come.

Gerolsteiner's Wrolich takes TdG stage 2; Armstrong plays sprinter

Just as he did last year, Lance Armstrong figured in the finish in downtown Rome today.

Last year, Armstrong won in a bike toss, coming off the wheel of Ivan Dominguez.

This year, Gerolsteiner's Peter Wrolich took the sprint, with Saunier Duval's Manuel Quinziato 2nd, and Armstrong 3rd.

Team Discovery Channel powered through downtown Rome on the finishing circuits, closing down Saunier Duval-Prodir's Andrea Tafi, who was caught with about 5 miles/8 kilometers to ride. Tafi will take the early King of the Mountains lead for his trouble.

Preliminary top 10:
1) Peter Wrolich (Gerolsteiner)
2) Manuel Quinziato (Saunier Duval Prodir)
3) Lance Armstrong (Discovery)
4) Ivan Fanelli (LPR)
5) Bobby Julich (CSC)
6) Sven Krauss (Gerolsteiner)
7) Tom Danielson (Discovery)
8) David Canada (Saunier Duval-Prodir)
9) Juan Jose Haedo (Colavita)
10) Tim Larkin (Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada)

Wrolich takes the overall lead, so will start tomorrow's TT last. Health Net's Greg Henderson leads the sprint classification.

Also:

VeloNews.com | Tour de Georgia: Wrolich wins in Rome

Team CSC roster for Tour de Georgia

Team CSC | Tour of Georgia

The Tour de Georgia roster:

Lars Bak
Michael Blaudzun
Bobby Julich
Christian Müller
Andy Schleck
Brian Vandborg
Christian Vande Velde
David Zabriskie

CSC won the Team award at last year's Tour de Georgia, while CSC's Jens Voigt took 2nd overall.

Reason number 537 the Tour de Georgia is so awesome: Above, the Team CSC squad standing around before Stage 7, while 150 people cluster around Lance Armstrong's motorhome about 75 feet to the left.

Gerolsteiner confirmed for Tour de Georgia

SI.com | Tour de Georgia could be Lance's last in U.S.

Race organizers announced the final team roster (.pdf file) for this month's Tour de Georgia, kicking off April 19th.

The biggest addition is Levi Leipheimer's Gerolsteiner squad.

Recapping, the 6 ProTour teams in the field are Discovery Channel, Gerolsteiner, Phonak, Team CSC, Saunier Duval-Prodir, and Credit Agricole.

Navigators Insurance, Team LPR, USA Cycling's national team, HealthNet-Maxxis, Jittery Joe's (the pride of Athens), Jelly Belly-Pool Gel, Colavita-Sutter Home, TIAA-CREF, Symmetrics, and Kodak EasyShare Gallery/Sierra Nevada (and doesn't THAT roll right off the tongue) will round out the field.

The stage is set for the top US riders to face off wheel to wheel, with Lance Armstrong, Bobby Julich, Floyd Landis, Chris Horner, and Levi Leipheimer all on hand. The only other American I would have loved to see in the field who isn't is Freddie Rodriguez.

Also, I noticed there's already a Tour de Georgia tag set up over at Flickr; I'll post some pictures from last year's race over there, and encourage everybody coming this year to use it, too.