Tour de Georgia begins Tuesday in Savannah

By Bryan Jew, Assistant Managing Editor

The inaugural Dodge Tour de Georgia begins Tuesday with a short, technical prologue through the streets of Savannah, kicking off the 605.7-mile journey that starts in Savannah and finishes five days later in Atlanta. Tuesday’s prologue will set the early tone for the race before things get underway in earnest on Wednesday, with a 136.4-mile road race between Augusta and Macon. If the racing goes anything like the early-season U.S. races, the top of the leader board could be colored red-and-yellow by the end of the day, as the Saturn men hope to continue the run that saw them take 1-2-3 sweeps of both Redlands and Sea Otter.

All three of Saturn’s top guns will be on hand: Chris Horner, Nathan O’Neill and Tom Danielson. However, they’ll face a beefed up field in Georgia, with the return of a full Navigators squad from Europe, a U.S. Postal Service squad featuring guest-rider and world mountain-bike champion Roland Green, and several European outfits, including the Vini Caldirola-Sidermec team of Fred Rodriguez.

With four stages of over 100 miles, including the 136-mile stage 1 and 138-mile stage 3, the race could favor those with lots of European racing miles in their legs (or Asian, as with Tour de Langkawi winner Tom Danielson and Saturn), but aside from the distance, judging from the course profiles there may not be enough climbing for the terrain to “make” the race, and it may be up to the teams and riders to dictate how hard the race actually is. The toughest stage is expected to be stage 4, 124 miles from Dalton to Gainesville, taking in the Fort Mountain and Woody Gap climbs along the way.

On Tuesday the first rider goes off at 11 a.m. local time. The 2.62-mile prologue course through downtown Savannah features 16 turns, starting and finishing on Broad St. The last rider should finish around 2 p.m.

On Tuesday evening, the race will make a quick transfer to Augusta, for the start of stage 1. The full route is as follows:

April 22: Prologue, Savannah – 2.62 miles
April 23: Stage 1, Augusta-Macon – 135.4 mi
April 24: Stage 2, Macon-Columbus – 116.7 mi
April 25: Stage 3, Pine Mountain-Rome – 138.4 mi
April 26: Stage 4, Dalton-Gainesville – 123.6 mi
April 27: Stage 5, Atlanta circuit race – 88 mi

Race roster (preliminary):

US POSTAL SERVICE
1 Floyd Landis, USA
2 Michael Barry, CAN
3 Antonio Cruz, USA
4 Damon Kluck, USA
5 Kenny Labbé, USA
6 Robbie Ventura, USA
7 David Zabriskie, USA
8 Roland Green, CAN
D.S. Lorenzo Lapage RABOBANK
10 Maarten den Bakker, NED
11 Kevin de Weert, BEL
12 Mathew Hayman, AUS
13 Remmert Wielinga, NED
14 Grischa Niermann, GER
15 Bobbie Traksel, NED
16 Thorwald Veneberg, NED
17 Ronald Mutsaars, NED
D.S. Frans Maassen SIDERMEC
20 Fred Rodriguez, USA
21 David De La Fuente, ESP
22 Andrea Masciarelli, ITA
23 Mauro Gerosa, ITA
24 Gabrielle Balducci, ITA
25 Mauro Radelli, ITA
26 Marco Gili, ITA
D.S. Vittorio Algeri NAVIGATORS
30 Vassili Davidenko, RUS
31 Chris Baldwin, USA
32 Siro Camponogara, ITA
33 Oleg Grishkine, RUS
34 Ciaran Power, IRL
35 Jeff Louder, USA
36 Henk Vogels, AUS
37 Chris Wherry, USA
D.S. Ray Cipolini/Ed Beamon FORMAGGI PINZOLO
40 Massimiliano Mori, ITA
41 Uros Murn, SLO
42 Moreno DiBiase. ITA
43 Massimo Amichetti, ITA
44 Matteo Cappè, ITA
45 Antonio Rizzi, ITA
46 Markus Wimmer, AUT
47 Massimilliano Amichetti, ITA
D.S. G. Pierdomenico

FLANDERS – ITEAMNOVA
50 David McKenzie, AUS
51 Jamie Drew, AUS
52 Scott Guyton, NZL
53 Allan Iacuone, AUS
54 Dominique Perras, CAN
55 Trent Wilson, AUS
56 Heiko Szonn, GER
57 Jurgen Landrie, BEL
D.S. Franky van Haesebroucke

SATURN
60 Tom Danielson, USA
61 Charles Dionne, CAN
62 Chris Horner, USA
63 Trent Klasna, USA
64 Nathan O’Neill, AUS
65 Mark McCormack, USA
66 Eric Wohlberg, CAN
67 Phil Zajicek, USA
D.S. Andrzej Bek 7 UP – MAXXIS
70 John Lieswyn,USA
71 Greg Henderson, NZL
72 Brice Jones, USA
73 Jason McCartney, USA
74 Kevin Monahan, USA
75 Chris Pic, USA
76 Oscar Piñeda, GUA
77 Doug Ziewacz, USA
D.S. Jeff Corbett SCHROEDER IRON
80 Chann McRae, USA
81 Jason Bausch, USA
82 Jacob Erker, USA
83 Cameron Hughes, AUS
84 Peter Knudsen, USA
84 Adam Livingston, USA
86 Aaron Olson, USA
87 Miguel Meza, MEX
D.S. Frank Schroeder PRIME ALLIANCE
90 Jonathan Vaughters, USA
91 Alex Candelario, USA
92 David Clinger, USA
93 Matt DeCanio, USA
94 Jonathan Page, USA
95 Danny Pate, USA
96 John Peters, USA
97 Svein Tuft, CAN
D.S. Kirk Willett

JELLY BELLY CARLSBAD CLOTHING
100 Ben Brooks, USA
101 Brent Dawson, AUS
102 Kirk Albers, USA
103 Remi McManus, USA
104 Mark Fitzgerald, USA
105 Chris Fisher, USA
106 Brian Forbes, USA
107 Mariano Friedick, USA
D.S. Danny Van Haute OFOTO LOMBARDI SPORTS
110 Erik Saunders, USA
111 Tim Larkin, USA
112 Andrew Bajadali, USA
113 Roman Peter. SUI
114 David O’Loughlin, IRL
115 Russell Hamby, USA
116 Jackson Stewart, USA
117 Peter Lopinto, USA
D.S. Robin Zellner JITTERY JOE’S COFFEE
120 Chad Hartley, USA
121 Drew Deters, USA
122 Kurt Garin, USA
123 César Grajales, COL
124 Jeff Hopkins, USA
125 Jesse Lawler, USA
126 Jake Rosenbarger, USA
127 Jonny Sundt, USA
D.S. Micah Rice SIERRA NEVADA – CLIF BAR
183 Adham Sbeih, USA
131 Ben Jacques-Maynes, USA
132 Todd Littlehales, USA
133 Daniel Ramsey, USA
134 Troy White, USA
135 Nieko Biskner, USA
136 Sterling Magnell, USA
137 David Fuentes, USA
D.S. Mike Neel COLAVITA – BOLLA
140 Sebastian Alexandre, ARG
141 Shawn Willard, USA
142 Tyler Wren, USA
143 Mike Luther, USA
144 Greg Wolf, USA
145 Karl Bordine, USA
146 Nathan Russell, USA
147 Gustavo Artacho, ARG
D.S. A. Wei

WEBCOR
150 Jeff Angermann, USA
151 Dario Falquier, USA
152 Marc Hagenlocher, USA
153 Ted Huang, USA
154 John Kelly, USA
155 James Mattis, USA
156 Lionel Syne, BEL
157 Dave Wyandt, USA
D.S. Frank Scioscia WEST VIRGINIA PRO CYCLING
160 Scottie Weiss, USA
161 Michael Jones, USA
162 Wes Seigler, USA
163 Ben Sharp, USA
164 Jon Hamblen, USA
165 Conner Hurley, USA
166 Jacob Fetty, USA
167 Dave Wenger, USA
D.S. Craig Slaughter/ Greg Cook DUTCH NATIONAL
170 Wouters Mol,NED
171 Floris Goesinnen, NED
172 Farnoud Van Groen, NED
173 Dirk Peetoom, NED
174 Laurens ten Dam, NED
175 Marcel Duyn, NED
176 Vincent Van Rijn, NED
177 Jos Pronk, NED
D.S. A. Visbeek