Tour de Georgia weblog

Ford out for 2007 Tour de Georgia; other sponsors sought

cyclingnews.com | Ford dealers decline 2007 Tour de Georgia

The Atlanta-area Ford dealers, who sponsored the 2006 edition of the Tour de Georgia, won't return for next year's race.

The group notified Medalist Sports, the race organizers, before the Tour de France, so the cancellation is probably not related to the possible doping positive by 2006 Tour de Georgia winner Floyd Landis.

Medalist is seeking new sponsors for the 2007 edition of the race.

The race, which organizers claim has a $26.2 million impact on Georgia's economy (pdf link), was sponsored by Dodge in 2003-2005.

Why wait for VeloNews: TdGblog picks VN contest winners

So, VeloNews has apparently forgotten about their Tour de Georgia photo contest -- it's been posted for 3 weeks with no winner, and the next weekly photo contest has started up (with some Tour de Georgia shots).

Therefore, I'm appointing myself the arbiter of good taste. Here are the best shots from the VeloNews 2006 Tour de Georgia photo contest.

The high point of the race was, of course, the battle on Brasstown, the Stage 5 Showdown, and lots of the submissions were of Landis and Danielson, locked together on the narrow road up Georgia's highest climb.

Best Landis vs. Danielson shot:

Dan Soceanu's GC Battle on BB 2006! Honorable mention to tomandfloyd, photographer unknown.

Shots I'd love to have about a 50-megapixel version of:

The gorgeous Ascending to the clouds at hogpen, by Zach Putnam, and Jason McCartney bridges on Fort Mtn, by Bob DeLong.

Best “Celebrity on celebrity” action:

Lance sighting on Stage 2, by (the?) Nelson Vails.

Best use of color:

Sprint to the finish Stage 2, by Mike Beavers.

Best shot of Iowa's greatest climber, TdG King of the Mountains Jason McCartney:

McCartney gets KOM on Hogpen Gap, by Dois (I'm thinking “Doris”) Melton.

Best “Shot I'd love to know the backstory for” goes to:

Phonak gives Discovery an earful (post-race Stage 1), by Michelle Carter.

They're in full Jets vs. Sharks mode, there, and I can't think of why -- neither squad factored in the Stage 1 sprint.

Best race face:

A tie between José Enrique's goofy face leading Landis in Floyd Landis and friends, by Mike Beavers, and Allen Johansen's TT grimace in Allan Johansen1, photographer unknown.

A study in contrast:

There were at least two shots submitted that appear to have been taken a small fraction of a second apart: Fred Rodriguez wins Stage 4, by Trish Albert, and Freddie take(s) the win, by Renee Spivy. I get the feeling that Renee's came out of a point-and-shoot, and if that's true, it's wonderful -- I like the axis of the press photographer at lower-left, Rodriguez just across the line, and Dave Towle calling the race at upper right, but there are some blown-out highlights. Trish, on the other hand, gives Rodriguez more weight, better filling the frame, but the shot's a little underexposed.

Comments welcome on your favorites, or your other favorites....

Update: Apparently, VeloNews did pick a TdG photo contest winner, back in May, but it must have scrolled off their site pretty quickly.

Landis takes 2006 Tour de Georgia; Haedo gets his stage win

Haedo takes Stage 6,
photo by Frank Steele.

Floyd Landis took another big win on Sunday, finishing safely in the pack to win the 2006 Tour de Georgia.

Juan José Haedo, the Toyota-United sprinter who had made two podiums without a win, edged double defending TdG Stage 6 winner Gord Fraser and Phonak's Aurelien Clerc for the stage win.

Discovery Channel dominated the race, taking the team classification, the king of the mountains (Jason McCartney), the best young rider (Janez Brajkovic), a yellow jersey (Yaroslav Popovych), two stage wins (Popovych in Rome, Danielson on Brasstown Bald), and the 2nd and 3rd rung of the podium.

But the day belonged to Floyd Landis, who dug deep to hang with Danielson and Popovych on Brasstown Bald, protecting his 4-second race lead. He also survived a minor scare on Sunday, when he flatted late during the finishing circuits in Alpharetta, but was able to rejoin the field quickly.

An early 15-man breakaway was slowly reeled in, a few riders at a time, until only HealthNet-Maxxis' Jeff Louder and TIAA-CREF's Will Frischkorn stood between the sprinters and a podium, and Haedo's Toyota-United team and Fast Freddie Rodriguez' Davitamon-Lotto squad did the lion's share of the chasing.

I've posted a Flickr photoset of Stage 6.

Danielson takes Brasstown Bald, but Landis holds race lead

Landis delivers,
photo by Frank Steele.

Unbelievable. I'll never doubt Floyd Landis again. Before the stage, I thought there was no way he would be able to last mano a mano with Discovery's Tom Danielson.

But that's just what Landis did on the biggest climb in the Tour de Georgia, the 3 mile+ ascent of Brasstown Bald. Discovery's Danielson and Yaroslav Popovych took turns attacking Landis, who marked Danielson and eventually let Popo go. Discovery, realizing that Popovych wasn't going to get enough time to take the race lead, eventually let Danielson attack Popovych to try to finish Landis directly. Landis wasn't cracking.

Landis has got to top the short list of American Tour de France contenders, as he looks likely to add the 2006 Tour de Georgia title to the Tour of California and Paris-Nice titles he's already won this season.

Check out my Stage 5 Flickr photoset.

Big Stage 3 photo gallery posted

I've got about 80 pictures from yesterday's time trial up.

Please comment (at Flickr or here) if I've misidentified anyone; I had start order and rosters, and in a few cases, more than one rider from a given team came through close together and could have reversed their start order.

My favorite pictures (click through for other sizes):

The big boys:

Stage 3 quick review

I haven't seen the full standings, but I heard at the finish line that Landis was the fastest on the day, but that Danielson held him within 4 seconds, and Zabriskie was another 20 seconds behind Danielson.

Based on what we saw on the course, I was surprised; Z looked like he wasn't even going hard on our steep uphill section, and I figured Landis would key off Danielson's time splits and go all out to make sure he had some time in hand before the big mountains start tomorrow.

Smells like a repeat of last year; I respect Landis as a climber, but Danielson is a climbing specialist who's becoming an all-rounder, and I see him leading the contenders at the top on Saturday. Should be an interesting couple of days.

How I spent my Wednesday

Popovych works the crowd
Frank Steele/tdgblog.com

Flickr.com | Tour de Georgia 2006 Stage 2

My father and I spent the day chasing the racing, and caught up with the peloton 3 (almost 4) times. We missed the race finish, but caught Popovych at the bottom of the Rome finishing straight, and made our way up to the finish line to see the race interviews and presentations.

Alejandro Acton deservedly took the “most aggressive rider” jersey, and came right by us, when I got this shot. Look how totally wiped he was after that breakaway; he put everything into his nearly 100-mile escape effort.

I got three portraits I was especially happy with: Ekimov with “certified badass” shades, Landis goofing with the crowd, and Juan José Haedo at the post-race ceremonies.

Pez offers TdG preview

PezCycling News | Preview: Tour de Georgia 2006

Jared Gruber at PezCycling News offers his look at this year's race. He's penciled in Landis 1st, Danielson 2nd, Zabriskie 3rd.

He notes that the time trial this year is a monster, at almost 40 kilometers with a healthy climb in the middle, and thinks that gives Landis the edge.

Gruber also looks at the tactical implications of the changes race organizers made to Friday and Saturday's mountain stages, cutting down the climbing in each, but spicing up Saturday's queen stage by coming over Hogpen Gap by the shorter, steeper route. On the race profile, it looks almost like that climb curves back on itself!

Also:

Podium Cafe | Tour d'of Georgia Time!

A chat with Phonak's Robbie Hunter and Floyd Landis

Daily Peloton | Floyd, Could You Pass the Coffee, Please?

Cathy Mehl of Daily Peloton sat down with Floyd Landis, Robbie Hunter and Phonak DS Rene Savary yesterday morning to talk about the Tour de Georgia and Landis' goals for the season.

Landis talked about the modifications to his time trial position, which VeloChimp has cleverly dubbed the Praying Landis:

"It is difficult to ride in that position. If someone tries it, they will probably quit (using it) before they get to see that it works. It took me awhile to get comfortable. A lot of the weight is on my arms, so it took awhile to get used to that."

Mehl asked Landis point-blank, “Do you consider yourself a pre-Tour favorite?

"A top contender..." Landis ponders for a moment. "I would say, yes, I do. I do consider myself one of the favorites. And no, I can't say I'm surprised to be in this position. It was a dream of mine for a long time. It might surprise other people! But I'm confident, whether it's this year or later, that I can make it to the top."

Landis confirmed that he'll be racing the Dauphiné Libéré in preparation for the Tour.

VeloNews offers TdG preview

VeloNews.com | Tour de Georgia: Top Americans looking for victory on home soil

Neal Rogers offers a preview of this week's race, but predicting (hoping for?) the possibility of an all-US podium featuring defending champion Tom Danielson of Discovery Channel, Phonak's Landis, and CSC's David Zabriskie.

Danielson is coming off a new record time in the climb of (the other) Lookout Mountain in Colorado, while Landis has already won the inaugural Tour of California and Paris-Nice this season. Danielson has an eye on next month's Giro d'Italia, while Landis has scrapped the Giro in favor of Tour de France preparation.

Rogers also mentions that organizers are planning to recognize Dalton native Saul Raisin during the ride; Stage 4 starts in his hometown on Friday.

Other TdG previews:

cyclingnews.com | 2006 Tour de Georgia -- Allez Ya'll

AMDProCycling.com | Michael Barry Journal: Tour de Georgia

ThePaceline.com (free reg. req.) | Tour de Georgia preview

Crossposted to TdFblog.