BiciRace.com :: 2005 Tour of Georgia

2005 Tour of Georgia, Stage 4

Tour of Georgia, USA

Stage 4, Dalton - Dahlonega 214.7 km

22 April

Vandborg Victorious

Main
Main Stage Report
Photos
The Tim Johnson Phone Tap, Bad Weather and Lots of Climbing

Jittery Joe's-Kalahari Report

The pain will start on this stage. Look for lots of a attacks and a sorting of the GC. Jason McCartney put in a fine break last year that gave him the stage.

Team Jittery Joe's-Kalahari Goals: Very difficult day in the mountains with 5 KOM's. Maybe put one of our stronger riders in the early break and see what happens.

Vandborg Victorious, photo: Tour of Georgia

To make the stage from Dalton to Dahlonega even more interesting, the organizers arranged with mother nature to have some foul weather. Included heavy rain, hail, along with thunder and lightening. It was a stage to make a Jittery Joe's caffè and watch from your shop window as the riders raced by.

Mt. Fort was a big breaker for many riders and it saw the end of the tour as those riders who were dropped pulled off in the following feed-zone. It was hard to resist the lure of the warm team car, parked on the side of the road with the engine running. But there was one group of riders who were taking it head on. Jose-Luis Rubiera (Discovery), Andy Schleck (CSC), Matthias Russ (Gerolsteiner), Elia Aggiano (LPR) and Sven Krauss (Gerolsteiner) were in the move. They had a gap of 3 minutes that steadily dropped to 1'30" heading into the Cat 3 Woody Gap climb. Early Marco Pinotti (Prodir - Saunier Duval) was in the move, but he decided enough was enough and headed back to the peloton. (Marco also gives the Inside Scoop for BiciRace.com).

On the first time up Woody Gap, Rubiera cranked out the pace, dropping the passengers, leaving Andy Schleck (CSC) and Sven Krauss (Gerolsteiner). Those three were to battle it out over the following two climbs until they reached Woody Gap again. Then it was a fast downhill to Dahlonega.

Peloton in the Rain, photo: Tour of Georgia

But heading to Woody Gap Schleck was dropped, at the same time there was an elite group of chasers forming at 50", including most of the GC favorites. On the final ascent of Woody Gap Krauss was putting in attacks on Rubiera, but soon it would not matter. On the descent to Dahlonega the two were caught by the chasing group group, and there was to be a battle for the line. "Pino", Marco Pinotti, was in the mix and put in a huge move. Brian Vandborg (Team CSC) countered Pinotti and had the juice to keep it to the line, and an amazing Rubiera hung on to come in for second.

T-Lo nella maglia bianca, photo: Tour of Georgia

BiciRace.com dives deep into understanding the home team team, Jittery Joe's-Kalahari. Evan decided enough was enough, and pulled out after the first climb. He was among many other top professionals to do so. Craig, Jonny and Bruno felt the heavy hand of the organizers when they finished outside the time limit. Tim and Geoff were keeping a close eye over Trent. Tim even nabbed some KOM points! "T-Lo" (Trent) has the best young rider's jersey, and the remaining coffee-boys will fight tooth and nail to make sure he keeps the jersey. BiciRace.com extents best wishes to the remaining three boys of coffee.

Results, 5'33" in the nasty rain
1 Brian Vandborg (Den) Team CSC
2 Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) Discovery Channel
3 Marco Pinotti (Ita) Prodir - Saunier Duval !!!!!!
4 Jason McCartney (USA) Discovery Channel 0.08
5 Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC
6 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) Team L.P.R.
7 Lance Armstrong (USA) Discovery Channel
8 Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems
9 Sven Krauss (Ger) Gerolsteiner
10 Daniele Contrini (Ita) Team L.P.R.
17 Trent Lowe (Aus) Jittery Joe's - Kalahari
31 Geoff Kabush (Can) Jittery Joe's - Kalahari 7.14
49 Timothy Johnson (USA) Jittery Joe's - Kalahari 19.59
HD Jonathan Sundt (USA) Jittery Joe's - Kalahari
HD Bruno Langlois (Can) Jittery Joe's - Kalahari
HD Craig Wilcox (USA) Jittery Joe's - Kalahari
DNF Evan Elken (USA) Jittery Joe's - Kalahari

GC
1 Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems 16.47.29
2 David Zabriskie (USA) Team CSC 0.19
3 Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC 0.28
4 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Gerolsteiner 0.50
5 Tom Danielson (USA) Discovery Channel 1.00
6 Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) Discovery Channel 1.13
7 Brian Vandborg (Den) Team CSC 1.39
8 Lance Armstrong (USA) Discovery Channel 1.42
9 José Azevedo (Por) Discovery Channel 1.53
10 Danny Pate (USA) Jelly Belly - Pool Gel 2.12
15 Trent Lowe (Aus) Jittery Joe's - Kalahari 3.02
32 Geoff Kabush (Can) Jittery Joe's - Kalahari 10.24
52 Timothy Johnson (USA) Jittery Joe's - Kalahari 24.33