BiciRace.com :: 2006 Tour of Georgia

2006 Tour of Georgia, Stage 5

Tour of Georgia, USA

Stage 5, Blairsville - Brasstown Bald Mountain, 152.1K

22 April

Danielson Overcomes Landis in Slug-Fest

Durango Danielson does the Deed, photo: Tour of Georgia

Brasstown Bald was the scene of a slug-fest between two top Americani: No-Fuss Floyd and Durango Danielson. The duo, both with a history in mountain biking, traded attacks in stage 5 of the Tour of Georgia on the state's highest mountain peak, with Tom Danielson (Discovery Channel) getting the best of Floyd Landis (Phonak) in the last meters. Durango may have taken victory on the famed slope, but No-Fuss kept close to conserve his overall lead, which he will likely carry through tomorrow's final stage.

Today's stage started under a downpour in Blairsville. The rain eased up as the terrain became mountainous: The riders faced the Hogpen Gap (peaking at 84K), Unicoi Gap (129K) and the summit finish on Brasstown Bald (152.1).

Phonak Pounds the Rhythm, photo: Tour of Georgia

Just like last year in the Brasstown Bald stage, Jason McCartney (Discovery Channel) went on the hunt. This time it was to gain KOM points to swipe the jersey from Lucas Euser (TIAA-CREF). The two formed part of a six-man break, also containing: Matteo Tosatto (Quick-Step), Kasper Klostergård (Team CSC), Aaron Olson (Prodir-Saunier Duval) and William Frischkorn (TIAA-CREF).

The escape had a 4'15" gap over the Phonak-led peloton at the start of Hogpen Gap (with an 8-10% average gradient). On the slopes McCartney and Euser dropped the other four before turning the screws on each other. Disco McCartney dropped Euser by the top and took the valuable KOM points.

McCartney kept the pace going on the following climb, Unicoi Gap, soloing to the top to claim the lead in the mountains competition, which he should keep through tomorrow's final stage. On the descent of Unicoi Gap Phonak was closing in to setup for day's finale on Brasstown Bald. The Swiss squadra had to keep No-Fuss Floyd Landis up front to avoid any time loss, and hold his leader's jersey.

Danielson and Landis Duel, photo: Tour of Georgia

Landis had a heck of a battle, there were only a dozen or so riders left at the base of Brasstown. Discovery Channel had three riders: Popovych, Danielson and Brajkovic. Phonak had three: Landis, Florian Stalder and José Enrique Gutierrez. There was also BiciRace's Marco Pinotti (Saunier Duval-Prodir), Jurgen Van de Walle (Quick-Step), Cesar Grajales (Navigators) and Justin England (Toyota-United Pro).

Soon the gruppo was slimmed down to only Popo, Danielson, Landis and Grajales. Popo looked the strongest, Grajales kept yoyoing off the back, while the GC battle was down to Landis and Danielson. The latter two traded attacks on Brasstown's slopes, initially dropping Popo before he came back and served as a pacemaker for his teammate. The Disco duo tried to work-over Landis but the Phonak rider was having none of it, even retaliating with his own attacks.

Stage Podium: No-Fuss, Durango, Popo, photo: Tour of Georgia

Tom finally delivered the death-blow to No-Fuss Floyd, enough to win the stage but too late to gain enough time for the GC lead. The Phonak rider had done what he couldn't do last year: hang on the tight on the grueling climb and preserve his leader's jersey. Tom Danielson proved once again that he is the mountain man, we just now need to get this kid on the Passo del Mortirolo or Plan de Corones!

Results: 4:05'56"
1 Tom Danielson (USA) Discovery Channel
2 Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak
3 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel 0.18
4 Cesar Grajales (Col) Navigators 0.23
5 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Discovery Channel
6 Remmert Wielinga (Ned) Quick-Step 0.28
7 José Enrique Gutierrez (Spa) Phonak 0.49
8 Egoi Martínez (Spa) Discovery Channel 1.35
9 Justin England (USA) Toyota-United Pro 1.49
10 Marco Pinotti (Ita) Prodir-Saunier Duval 1.58
11 Alberto Fernández De La Puebla (Spa) Prodir-Saunier Duval 2.02
12 Johann Tschopp (Swi) Phonak 2.07
13 David Zabriskie (USA) Team CSC
14 Anthony Colby (USA) Targetraining
15 Christopher Baldwin (USA) Toyota-United Pro 2.20
16 Nathan O'Neill (Aus) Health Net-Maxxis 2.50
17 Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) Discovery Channel
18 Jurgen Van de Walle (Bel) Quick-Step 3.02
19 Trent Lowe (Aus) Discovery Channel
20 Trent Wilson (Aus) Jittery Joe's-Zero Gravity 3.22
21 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 3.27
22 Brian Vandborg (Den) Team CSC
23 Todd Wells (USA) Targetraining 3.37
24 Caleb Manion (Aus) Jelly Belly
25 Iñigo Cuesta (Spa) Team CSC 4.09
26 Christophe Rinero (Fra) Prodir-Saunier Duval 4.17
27 Andrew Bajadali (USA) Jelly Belly 4.23
28 Todd Herriot (USA) Colavita Olive Oil-Sutter Home 4.37
29 Valery Kobzarenko (Ukr) Navigators 5.15
30 Geert Verheyen (Bel) Quick-Step 5.38
31 Peter Hatton (Aus) Jittery Joe's-Zero Gravity
32 Ignacio Gutierrez (Spa) Phonak
33 Burke Swindlehurst (USA) Navigators 6.02
34 Ben Jacques-Maynes (USA) Kodakgallery.com-Sierra Nevada 6.21
35 Viktor Rapinski (Blr) Colavita Olive Oil-Sutter Home 6.40
36 Thomas Peterson (USA) TIAA-CREF 6.47
37 Piotr Mazur (Pol) Prodir-Saunier Duval 6.52
38 Jeff Louder (USA) Health Net-Maxxis
39 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Navigators 7.01
40 Allan Johansen (Den) Team CSC 7.22
41 Benjamin Noval (Spa) Discovery Channel
42 Pieter Mertens (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto
43 Florian Stalder (Swi) Phonak
44 Antonio Cruz (USA) Toyota-United Pro 7.39
45 Danny Pate (USA) TIAA-CREF 7.54
46 Jesse Anthony (USA) Kodakgallery.com-Sierra Nevada 8.24
47 Doug Ollerenshaw (USA) Health Net-Maxxis 8.32
48 Phil Zajicek (USA) Navigators 9.10
49 Karl Menzies (Aus) Health Net-Maxxis 9.39
50 Matthew Rice (Aus) Jelly Belly 9.57
51 Nick Gates (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto 10.35
52 Nick Reistad (USA) Jelly Belly 10.46
53 Jason McCartney (USA) Discovery Channel 11.31
54 Mark McCormack (USA) Colavita Olive Oil-Sutter Home 11.47
55 Leonardo Scarselli (Ita) Quick-Step 11.52
56 Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC 12.05
57 Fred Rodriguez (USA) Davitamon-Lotto 12.33
58 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Quick-Step 13.44
59 Philip Wong (USA) Jittery Joe's-Zero Gravity 14.45
60 Tim Johnson (USA) Health Net-Maxxis
...

GC:
1 Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak 19:23'10"
2 Tom Danielson (USA) Discovery Channel 0.04
3 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel 1.55
4 José Enrique Gutierrez (Spa) Phonak 2.11
5 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Discovery Channel 2.15
6 David Zabriskie (USA) Team CSC 2.31
7 Nathan O'Neill (Aus) Health Net-Maxxis 3.45
8 Marco Pinotti (Ita) Prodir-Saunier Duval 3.54
9 Christopher Baldwin (USA) Toyota-United Pro 4.01
10 Cesar Grajales (Col) Navigators 4.20
11 Justin England (USA) Toyota-United Pro 4.35
12 Remmert Wielinga (Ned) Quick-Step 4.43
13 Egoi Martínez (Spa) Discovery Channel 5.05
14 Brian Vandborg (Den) Team CSC 5.25
15 Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) Discovery Channel 6.07
16 Jurgen Van de Walle (Bel) Quick-Step 6.59
17 Johann Tschopp (Swi) Phonak 7.08
18 Iñigo Cuesta (Spa) Team CSC 8.11
19 Todd Wells (USA) Targetraining 8.24
20 Trent Wilson (Aus) Jittery Joe's-Zero Gravity 8.33
21 Anthony Colby (USA) Targetraining
22 Alberto Fernández De La Puebla (Spa) Prodir-Saunier Duval 8.44
23 Valery Kobzarenko (Ukr) Navigators 8.53
24 Andrew Bajadali (USA) Jelly Belly 8.58
25 Caleb Manion (Aus) Jelly Belly 9.08
...