For a race with the good ol’ boys in Georgia there is a wacky list of recent winners. This year the new guy with a funny name (yes, my name is Marcello and it is funny too) is Kanstantin Sivtsov. Not yet a household name, but that is what you said when Jani Brajkovic won last year. Now Jani is sitting home recovering from over-training while the young High Road racers takes the top prize. In second place is American Trent Lowe followed by Levi (Let me ride) Leipheimer.
The Tour de Georgia seems to be stuck in a conundrum. It has relatively unknown winners for the past two years and falls within the most exciting time of the Spring Classics. After the Tour of California received daily coverage from the USA’s main cycling coverage channel Versus, the Tour de Georgia will have to wait a week for a one hour highlight show. If you were not a die-hard velochimp reading fan or in Georgia you would not notice such a great event happening. With the epic Brasstown Bald climb and the cool new Team Time Trial at Road America the race has lots to capture the imagination.
Sistov seems like one of those guys who you will remember when he first won a stage at the Tour de Georgia. His all round ability could make him more well know when the Giro starts in a just a few weeks.
I still remember the Tour de Trump and a young Slava Ekimov with his powerful track-sprint challenging the big boys. Its these lower key races in America when you can see a talent emerge. Could we one day be witness to a tongue twisting Brajkovic vs Sivtsov duel on L’Alpe D’Huez for the Tour win? We could hope as Phil Ligget wrestles with those names and just decides to end his career mid-stage.
So here is to the good ol’ boys in Georgia who are clinging to their guns and church as racers from former Eastern Bloc countries with funny names ride in funny shorts make a name for themselves.
The race is lower key than the Tour of California especially as it comes right in the middle of Classics season. But the beauty of cycling is the fact that there is enough talent to go around. So the Tour de Georgia sees George Hincapie (Phil and Paul’s favorite cyclist) appear for his return after suffering a thumb injury at the Tour de California. He has been working hard to stay in form and recover from his injury.
Disco’s Race?
We are not sure which Hincapie we will see at this race as Discovery have quite a few cards to play. First is Hincapie, who can probably climb as well as anyone especially now that he does not have to focus on the Spring Classics this year. Then there is Tom Danielson the winner two years ago and runner up last year. Levi Leipheimer is just coming off a Tour of California victory and would probably like to continue that winning streak. He is now a winner with Discovery Channel where he found the extra push to get to the top step of the podum in California.
Don’t Tick off Tinkoff
Tinkoff are a new team and they are on a mission to win as much as possible. Tinkoff guys have been seen at the front of many races and have also bagged a few wins. The owner Oleg Tinkoff looks like a guy you would not want to mess with.
Following the Tour of California Tour Tracker, the same technology will be used for the The Tour de Georgia Tour Tracker.
Allan Padgett of Adobe was originally involved in building the Tour of California Tour Tracker. He provided details on how it was built using the Adobe Flex Framework. The entire app was built within 4 weeks with only one or so developers. They were also using beta technology that was not fully tested. Cell phones were used to constantly broadcast GPS positions of riders. This was complicated at times when the course would run through areas where T-Mobile coverage was spotty or non-existent.
Needless to say there were bugs that needed to be worked out. Despite all of the issues the Tour Tracker did a great job of getting information on the bike races in real time. Something to geek out on while sitting at your desk.
Follow the Tour de Georgia with the tdgblog. It looks like it is the same folks that bring you the tdfblog.com as the format is very similar. There are links to photosets on Flickr and reports from folks who are at the race this year.
The Flickr links are by far the best feature since folks with digital camera are alll over the race and very eager to upload pics. It gives a different angle to the event that can’t be seen as well with the professional shots from Velonews and Cyclingnews.com.
Nice shot of the Specialized Angel from Sea Otter. This pic comes from Flickr courtesy of the tdgblog.com
Specialized isn’t putting too much marketing behind the Tour de Georgia especially since Gerolsteiner is not racing there this year.
Specialized has a fairly low-profile presence in Georgia this week. Their only official sponsorship is of KodakGallery.com-Sierra Nevada, for whom they provide helmets and electronics, so no Angel.
The Tour De Georgia starts tomorrow, but nobody could really tell since there is not much buzz about the race this year. Maybe everyone got too excited by the Tour of California and the Classics?
The Tour de Georgia comes at a time when many US riders are injured and thankfully on the mend. Saul Raisin is recovering in France from a coma. Late word on his recovery is that it is going well.
George Hincapie is taking time to recover from injuries sustained in a dramatic failure of his fork steerer tube in paris Roubaix.
Bobby Julich and Christian Vande Velde will stay in Europe as they prepare to help Ivan Basso win the Giro D’Italia. Vande Velde is coming off some injuries to his clavicle and is trying to get enough racing in his legs to be ready for the Giro.
Levi Leipheimer is still training stateside, but the Tour de Georgia website does not list Gerolsteiner as starting the race.
Chris Horner is not listed on the Davitamon-Lotto roster, but teammate Fred Rodriguez will be there.
With all of these absences there are quite a few riders that will help to animate the race as they did in 2005. Tom Danielson and Floyd Landis will be back and hopefully duel out for top GC placings. David Zabriske will be there and could be a contender for the overall too.
Cyclelicio.us has an entry on the feasability of having a Tour of US. Looking at some of the major US races which are about 1 week long, would it be feasable to combine these to to one three week race?
Tour of California – 8 stages
Tour de Georgia – 6 stages
Tour de Toona – 7 stages
It looks like there would be many hinderances to setting up a Tour of US. The main would be geography.
I would be against such an idea as I think the regional one week race aspect has better potential. If more areas begin to setup their own stage races, then that would help cycling in the US in several ways:
1) No reliance on a single race as the focus of all cycling means less problems when a sponsor pulls out or event gets cancelled. The cancelling of the Tour Du Pont in 1996 left a void that was not filled until the Tour De Georgia started up.
The Tour de Georgia’s route was unveiled yesterday.
Stage 1: Tuesday, April 18 – Augusta, Ga. to Macon, Ga. • Augusta: Third year to host the Tour, with a Stage Start venue in 2003 and Overall Start in 2005 • Macon: Fourth consecutive year as a host city, having participated as a Stage Finish and Stage Start in 2003, a one-day Stage Circuit in 2004, and a Stage Finish in 2005
Stage 2: Wednesday, April 19 – Fayetteville, Ga. to Rome, Ga. • Fayetteville: Returns to the Tour for a second consecutive year as a Stage Start • Rome: Fourth consecutive year as a host city, having participated as a Stage Finish in 2003, 2004 and 2005, and having hosted the Individual Time Trial in 2004 and 2005
Stage 3: Thursday, April 20 – Individual Time Trial from Chickamauga/Walker Co., Ga. to Chattanooga,Tenn. • Chickamauga/Walker Co.: Hosts a Tour stage for the first time, with the start of the ITT • Chattanooga: First city outside the state of Georgia to host the Tour, with the finish of the ITT
Stage 4: Friday, April 21 – Dalton, Ga. to Dahlonega, Ga. • Dalton: Fourth consecutive year as a Stage Start and home to professional cyclist Saul Raisin • Dahlonega: Third consecutive year as a Stage Finish, and bringing its renowned Bear in the Square festival to Tour fans
Stage 5: Saturday, April 22 – Blairsville/Union Co., Ga. to Brasstown Bald Mountain/Towns Co., Ga. • Blairsville/Union County: Returns for second consecutive year as a Stage Start • Brasstown Bald Mountain/Towns County: A third consecutive stint as a Stage Finish, with its epic finish on The Bald, the highest peak in Georgia, and compared to the Alpe d’Huez of the Tour de France
Stage 6: Sunday, April 23 – Cumming/Forsyth Co., Ga. to Alpharetta, Ga. • Cumming/Forsyth County: Inaugural Stage host for the Tour, with a Stage Start on the final day, in conjunction with the Taste of Forsyth; was a Sprint line host community in 2004 and 2005 • Alpharetta: A third year as the Overall Finish host city, with its signature four-mile finishing circuit
