Tour de Georgia weblog

Dominguez takes Tour de Georgia Stage 1

Photo by Ken Conley

Toyota-United's Ivan Dominguez took a smart victory in the first stage of the 2008 Tour de Georgia Monday.

While Rock Racing (with Freddie Rodriguez), High Road (with Greg Henderson), and Gerolsteiner (with Robert Förster) jockeyed for position at the front of the field, Dominguez found a good wheel, and just flat outsprinted the field.

Jelly Belly's Nicholas Sanderson was 2nd and Förster 3rd, with essentially all riders finishing in the same time.

Stage 1 Top 10:
1) Ivan Dominguez (Cuba), Toyota-United, 2:30:18
2) Nicholas Sanderson (Australia), Jelly Belly, same time, U25
3) Robert Förster (Germany), Gerolsteiner, s.t.
4) Richard England (Australia), Bissell Pro Cycling, s.t.
5) Sergey Kudentsov (Russia), Marco Polo, s.t.
6) Danilo Wyss (Switzerland), BMC, s.t., U25
7) Bradley Mcgee (Australia), CSC, s.t.
8) Greg Henderson (New Zealand), Team High Road, s.t.
9) Aaron Kemps (Australia), Astana, s.t.
10) Karl Menzies (Australia), Health Net-Maxxis, s.t.
U25 - qualifies for young rider leader's jersey.

Looks more like the Tour Down Under standings, with 5 Aussies in the top 10 and Greg Henderson from New Zealand. The best placed US rider was BMC's Taylor Tolleson, 13th, with Chris Horner 18th. It appears neither Freddie Rodriguez nor JJ Haedo were their team's featured sprinters today: Sevilla in 14th was the best placed Rock Racing rider (Rodriguez in 54th), and McGee led CSC in 7th with Haedo back in 75th.

Tyler Farrar finished last, but in the same time as the leaders after puncturing in the day's last 2k. Scott Zwizanski of Bissell, the broom wagon sponsors, is positioned just in front of them in 119th, last overall.

Overall Top 10:
1) Ivan Dominguez, Toyota-United, 2:30:08
2) Nicholas Sanderson, Jelly Belly, at :04, U25
3) Greg Henderson, Team High Road, at :05
4) Tyler Farrar (USA), Slipstream-Chipotle, at :05, U25
5) Robert Forster, Gerolsteiner, at :06
6) Ivan Stevic (Serbia), Toyota-United, at :06
7) Christian Meier (Canada), Symmetrics, at :07, U25
8) Garrett Peltonen (USA), Bissell Pro Cycling, at :09
9) Richard England, Bissell Pro Cycling, at :10
10) Sergey Kudentsov, Marco Polo, at :10

Also:

spare cycles | Dominguez takes Stage 1 | photo gallery

VeloNews | Dominguez bike details

Dominguez rides a Fuji TT frame in road stages, which is heavier but stiffer and more aero than their road frame, mated to a road fork.

Leipheimer doubles up, Brajkovic holds lead

Discovery Channel's Levi Leipheimer won his second straight stage at the Tour de Georgia today, easily riding away from the field to win at Georgia's highest peak.

Next to the top was Leipheimer teammate Tom Danielson, who won the climb last year with race leader Floyd Landis shadowing his every move. This year, Discovery Channel did the shadowing, as race leader Janez Brajkovic matched CSC's Christian Vande Velde switchback for switchback. Vande Velde, just 12 seconds behind Brajkovic starting the stage, couldn't gap the young Slovenian.

Anthony Colby and Nathan O'Neill waved the flag for US-based riders, finishing 3rd and 4th, ahead of 2001 and 2003 Giro d'Italia winner Gilberto Simoni.

Top 10:
1) Levi Leipheimer, USA, Discovery Channel
2) Tom Danielson, USA, Discovery Channel
3) Anthony Colby, USA, Colavita-Sutter Home
4) Nathan O'Neill, Australia, Health Net-Maxxis
5) Gilberto Simoni, Italy, Saunier Duval
6) Alexandre Moos, Switzerland, BMC
7) Ryder Hesjedal, Canada, Health Net-Maxxis
8) John Devine, USA, U.S. developmental squad
9) Christian Vande Velde, USA, CSC
10) Janez Brajkovic, Slovenia, Discovery Channel

Brajkovic holds the race lead.

Also:

Walker County Messenger | Leipheimer goes back-to-back

Let's get to racing

Time to kick off the 2007 Tour de Georgia. Today's stage runs from Medalist Sports headquarters in Peachtree City, down to traditional Stage 1 finishing town, Macon. It's 98.5 miles in all, with 3 circuits of a 2.55-mile loop in downtown Macon expected to happen around 4:30 or 5 p.m.

Stage 1 is traditionally a field sprint after a suicide break. In 2006, Aaron Olson provided the break, and Lars Michaelsen of Team CSC won the field sprint ahead of Freddie Rodriguez and Caleb Manion. Michaelsen, in his final career race, took a special lap of honor yesterday at Paris-Roubaix, where his teammate Stuart O'Grady won the Hell of the North, the toughest of the spring classics.

I'm still a little confused on the team rosters: I found a posted copy dated April 11th, but then in Saturday's pre-race press conference, Levi Leipheimer mentioned Janez Brajkovic as a Discovery Channel rider, and he's not on that roster, so I'll wait to post a final roster link. Update: CyclingNews has a start list that looks reasonable.

Here are the big names: Leipheimer, Hincapie, Danielson for Discovery Channel; Zabriskie, Vande Velde, Haedo for Team CSC; Freddie Rodriguez, Stefano Zanini, and Nick Gates for Predictor-Lotto; 2005 Giro d'Italia winner Gilberto Simoni and David Millar of Prodir-Saunier Duval; Tyler Hamilton, back from his 2-year suspension, for Tinkoff Credit Systems; Nathan O'Neill and Ryder Hesjedal from Health Net/Maxxis; Danny Pate, Tom Peterson, and Patrick McCarty from Team Slipstream; Ivan Dominguez, Chris Baldwin, Chris Wherry, and Henk Vogels from Toyota-United; and Ben Jacques-Maynes of Priority Health.

The strongest sprinters in the field are probably Haedo, Dominguez, and Rodriguez: If you gave me three shots, those are the guys I'd pick to win today. Dominguez has been a monster domestically, and Haedo is coming off a win in the Tour of Cologne: My money's on Haedo for the win today.

The web tracker with video that made its debut for the Tour of California has been updated for the TdG, and is available at www.tourdegeorgiatracker.com. Stage starts at 1 p.m. Eastern. Here's the course map, the course profile, and the course log from the official Tour de Georgia website.

Race Previews:

VeloNews: Fifth Tour de Georgia kicks off on Monday

CyclingNews | Georgia is back, and bigger

Procycling | Who will succeed Landis?

Y'all come - 2007 Tour de Georgia gets green light

Atlanta Business Chronicle | Tour de Georgia a go, despite no title sponsor

This year's edition of the Tour de Georgia is a definite go, after organizers canvassed existing sponsors, teams, and some additional Georgia businesses to make up for the lack of a true title sponsor.

The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports that the race still faces a shortfall of around $200,000, and that organizers continue to seek “additional opportunities for fundraising.”

Among the new sponsors: Garmin, vacuum maker Bissell, and Maxxis Tires, which has previously sponsored the race's sprint lines and co-sponsored the HealthNet team.

Also:

Macon Telegraph | Tour de Ga. avoids cancellation

VeloNews | Georgia, U.S. Open good to go; crash injures O'Neill and others

Pass the hat? Tour de Georgia facing financial deadline

Atlanta Business Chronicle | Tour de Georgia may be on financial crash course

The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports the Tour de Georgia has a week to find a title sponsor. If they can't, organizers say they'll have to “ ‘minimize expenses dramatically’ or even ax the popular event altogether.”

United Community Bank, last year's sprint sponsor, Delta Air Lines, GE Energy, and the Georgia state Department of Economic Development all are on board, but the $1.5 million raised so far is about $800,000 short of what's needed.

Organizers chose a race route that brings the race into Atlanta, finishing in Centennial Olympic Park, and expect more spectators as a result, but that change apparently was part of the reason that Ford's North Georgia dealers pulled out of the race.

Some Ford dealers in North Georgia decided it wasn't in their interest to sponsor the event, as the race will not pass through areas they thought would give their dealerships good exposure, [Tour chairman Craig] Lesser said.

Lesser said organizers have approached every major corporation in Georgia, but record losses in the auto industry and changing leadership in local companies have made the search harder.

Lesser stresses that calling the Tour de Georgia a "no-go" is an extreme option. Cutting back on the event is an unsavory task, though. As a result, Lesser says the board could make do with no title sponsor -- just as long as individuals or companies donate enough money to get the race started.

Haedo joins CSC

Eurosport | CSC sign sprinter Haedo

  Juan José Haedo 
  Originally uploaded by Frank Steele.

Bjarne Riis announced the signing of Argentina's Juan José Haedo, who had won stages in America's biggest races while racing for Toyota-United.

Haedo joins CSC, giving them the finishing kick they seemingly have lacked the last few seasons.

Said Haedo:

"I'm the first ever Argentinean rider to be given a chance at this level and the fact that Team CSC has chosen me gives me a tremendous confidence boost," added Haedo.

Haedo took 2 wins at the 2006 Tour of California, and the final stage of the 2006 Tour of Georgia.

Dahlonega cites higher costs, will miss 2007 TdG

MyFox Atlanta | Georgia City Complains of Change in Tour de Georgia

Dahlonega's Chamber of Commerce says they've been priced out of the Tour de Georgia.

Dale Steenbergen, the CoC chairman, said organizers told him they would have to come up with $25,000 to $30,000 to keep the race in Dahlonega. “That's gone up from 7-8 thousand the first year.”

Dahlonega has been a finish line for each of the three Tours de Georgia so far. Steenbergen also suggests the Tour will be bypassing much of the area around Dahlonega. That I'll believe when I see it.

Medalist Sports President Chris Aronholt replied:

“We believe very strongly in our business model. We have a model that is equal and fair and open. We're always open to criticism.”

Aronholt also told Fox 5's Paul Yates the numbers Steenbergen reported weren't correct.

The route announcement is reportedly expected next week. The Fox 5 report says there were 18 cities vying for 12 host spots this year.

Tour de Georgia final rosters announced

Tour de Georgia 2006 | Teams

The Tour de Georgia has released the official final start list for the six-stage jaunt around Georgia, kicking off Tuesday in Augusta.

Last year's overall winner, Tom Danielson of Discovery Channel, returns, supported by Yaroslav Popovych, Viatcheslav Ekimov, new Discos Trent Lowe and Egoi Martinez, Michael Barry, Jason McCartney, and Janez Brajkovic.

CSC will be headlined by David Zabriskie, Jakob Piil and Brian Vandborg, who won Stage 4 of last year's TdG.

Vinokourov trades Georgia for Liege-Bastogne-Liege

CNN.com | Vinokourov will defend Liege title

Alexandre Vinokourov has switched gears, and will defend his 2005 win at Liège-Bastogne-Liège April 23rd. As the new leader of Liberty Seguros, Vinokourov had originally planned to ride the Tour de Georgia in late April.

After the Vuelta a Castilla y León, which Vinokourov is currently leading, Vinokourov will be racing only at LBL and at the Dauphiné Libéré starting June 5 before the Tour begins in Strasbourg July 1.

Quick Step, Davitamon-Lotto to line up at Tour de Georgia

Rome News - Tribune | Tour de Georgia 2006 announces teams

Look for 6 ProTour teams in this year's Tour de Georgia, running April 18 - April 23 in my backyard.

Team CSC, Discovery Channel, Phonak, and Prodir-Saunier Duval, returning from last year, are joined by Davitamon-Lotto, who will probably bring Chris Horner and Fast Freddy Rodriguez, and Quick Step-Innergetic could bring “American” Guido Trenti; we'll see about Bettini, Boonen, and Milan-San Remo winner Filippo Pozzato. Defending champ Tom Danielson of Discovery and Floyd Landis of Phonak are early commitments.

Medalist Sports expects Yaroslav Popovych, Trent Lowe (now with Discovery after winning best young rider at last year's race), and Viatcheslav Ekimov to also appear for Discovery Channel. Full rosters are still a couple of weeks away.

Two Pro Continental teams return: HealthNet-Maxxis and Navigators, and 7 UCI Continental teams fill out the field: Colavita-Sutter Home, Jelly Belly, Jittery Joe's-Zero Gravity, Kodakgallery.com-Sierra Nevada, Targetraining, Team TIAA-CREF, and Toyota-United.