The results sheet for stage 4 of the Dodge Tour de Georgia showed CSC’s Brian Vandborg as the day’s winner. And indeed the Dane did win the wicked 133.4-mile test from Dalton to Dahlonega, finishing in 5:33:02. But the bigger victor on a Friday afternoon where racers were brutalized by wind, rain and hail, was American Floyd Landis.
There were two definite declarations to be made following the third stage of the Dodge Tour de Georgia in Rome on Thursday. First, if it wasn’t already, American Floyd Landis made it clear that with or without the services of the now-suspended Tyler Hamilton, the future of the Phonak team is in solid hands as it heads into the important months of the 2005 season.
For the hopeless romantics among us, a victory by Andrea Tafi in the second stage of the Dodge Tour de Georgia would have been a fairy tale with the classic happy-ending. Tafi, the 38-year-old one-time Paris-Roubaix champion and always one of the sport’s most compelling characters, rolling off the front and soloing home for the win in what will be one of his last events as a professional. It was almost too good to be true — and it turns out it was.
The Dodge Tour de Georgia, the biggest stage race of the 2005 domestic road-racing season — with what is arguably the most competitive field in North American history — is set to begin Tuesday morning in Augusta, Georgia. Marked by appearances from American ProTour team leaders Bobby Julich (CSC), Floyd Landis (Phonak), Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner) and defending champion Lance Armstrong (Discovery Channel), the race will again serve as an early season stage racing test, with the state of Georgia as the backdrop. It’s no overstatement to describe Lance Armstrong’s decision to return to
After what was more leisurely stroll than bike race, it was Phonak's Robbie Hunter taking the first stage of the 2005 Dodge Tour de Georgia on Tuesday. Hunter charged to the front at the end of the 128.9-mile stage that started in Augusta, taking the win in downtown Macon. Jelly Belly's Ben Brooks took second, with Italian Michele Maccanti (LPR) in third.
Final Overall Standings 1. Lance Armstrong (USA) U.S. Postal Service, at 1066.4km in 25:39:20 (41.566kph) 2. Jens Voigt (G) CSC, at 0:24 3. Chris Horner (USA) Webcor, at 1:01 4. Bobby Julich (USA) CSC, at 1:57 5. Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) U.S. Postal Service, at 2:59 6. Cesar Grajales Calle (Col) Jittery Joe's Coffee, at 3:07 7. Scott Moninger (USA) Health Net/Maxxis, at 3:44 8. Sergio Marinangeli (I) Domina Vacanze, at 4:06 9. Brian Vandborg (Dk) CSC, at 4:52 10. Eric Wohlberg (CAN) Sierra Nevada, at 5:25 Full Results
Gord Fraser of Health Net-Maxxis took the final stage of the Dodge Tour de Georgia Sunday, beating out Juan Jose Haedo (Colavita Olive Oil) and 2002 world champion Mario Cipollini (Domina Vacanze) in a high-speed 65kph dash to the line. There were no significant changes to the general classification, sealing the final overall victory for U.S. Postal-Berry Floor's Lance Armstrong.
Colombian climber Cesar Grajales of the Athens, Georgia-based Jittery Joe’s team took the biggest victory of his career Saturday at the Dodge Tour de Georgia, escaping from a select group to solo away atop the hors categorie Brasstown Bald Mountain ascent.
Jason McCartney shot out of a six-man breakaway with more than 32km remaining to win the epic 137.5-mile fifth stage of the Dodge Tour de Georgia on Friday. The Health Net-Maxxis rider made his move on the fourth of five classified climbs as the break's lead over a U.S. Postal-driven chase began to dwindle, from six minutes to four.
Our man Casey Gibson was on the job in Georgia today for what he called a "great, great stage." And as usual, he caught both stars and watercarriers in the performance of their duties. Here's a look at his stage-5 portfolio.
On the same day that Jan Ullrich announced that he had opted out of Sunday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège World Cup, Dodge Tour de Georgia crowd favorite Lance Armstrong fired a warning shot to his Tour de France rival when he won the stage 3 field sprint into Rome, finishing ahead of Ivan Dominguez (Colavita Olive Oil) and Ben Brooks (Jelly Belly).
It really hasn’t been all that long since an elite cyclist won two UCI-sanctioned races on the same day: seven weeks, to be precise. The rider was CSC’s Jens Voigt, and the event was the two-day, three stage French Critérium International. Voigt took the overall on March 28 by winning the 98.5km morning climbing stage in a three-up sprint, and followed up with a win in the final 8.3km time trial, besting U.S. Postal-Berry Floor’s Lance Armstrong by four seconds on the stage and 14 seconds overall.
When Italian superstar “Super Mario” Cipollini failed to contest the opening sprint stage of the Dodge Tour de Georgia on Monday, the sport’s cognoscenti immediately questioned what might be amiss with 2002 world champion. Was it the criterium-style finishing circuits that slowed down his Domina Vacanze lead-out train? Was he out of sorts in the near 90-degree heat? Perhaps he had simply arrived in the U.S. out of shape, or maybe, some supposed, the realities of age had finally caught up with the 37-year-old sprinter.
Defending Dodge Tour de Georgia champion Chris Horner made a bold pre-race press conference statement Monday when he announced he would not be content with anything less than overall victory. “My form is very good,” said Horner, who is fresh off an overall win at the Sea Otter Classic to add to his stage race wins at Redlands, Pomona Valley and just about every other domestic stage race he has chosen over the past two years. “I’ve got the legs and I’m here to win. Anything less and I won’t be satisfied.” It’s not the first time Horner has predicted victory. Last September, on the eve of the
Canadian veteran Gord Fraser (Health Net-Maxxis) took the opening stage of the 2004 Dodge Tour de Georgia Tuesday, beating sprint specialist Ivan Dominguez (Colavita Olive Oil) and last month’s Criterium International winner Jens Voigt (CSC) to the finish line in front of an enthusiastic downtown Macon crowd. Fraser’s lead-out man Greg Henderson finished fourth, with Landbouwkredit-Colnago’s Ukrainian sprinter Yuri Metlushenko in fifth.
Saturday’s stage from Dalton to Gainesville pretty much sealed the overall Dodge Tour de Georgia victory for Saturn’s Chris Horner, but there was still some unfinished business and suspense left for the grand finale in downtown Atlanta on Sunday. In the end, though, there was no catching Horner. Meanwhile, Fred Rodriguez fell short of a third consecutive stage win when Prime Alliance’s David Clinger scored his biggest victory for his new team. The race began on a near-perfect afternoon, under sunny skies at Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park in downtown. On the docket was 10 laps of a fast
The U.S. pro peloton hasn’t seen much of the Navigators this spring, but the squad made a big impact in its first major road stage on home soil this year, with Henk Vogels winning stage 1 of the Tour de Georgia and taking the race leader’s jersey in the process. Vogels emerged from a lead group of about 30 riders and beat out Schroeder Iron’s Miguel Meza at the end of the 136-mile stage from Augusta to Macon, heading east to west across the center of the state. While the rest of the U.S. domestic teams were out in California in full force for the opening of the season, Navigators had only