Ford Tour de Georgia
GeorgiaStage 1: Augusta to Macon
April 18, 2006
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CSC's Michaelson Sprints to the Ford Leaders Jersey in Stage One of the 2006 Ford Tour de Georgia
American Fred Rodriguez Davitamon-Lotto and Australian Caleb Manion of Jelly Belly capture podium spotsLars Michaelson (Denmark) of Team CSC, the No. 1-ranked ProTour team this spring, captured the Ford Leader Jersey in a sprint in downtown Macon for Stage One of the 2006 Ford Tour de Georgia. American Fred Rodriguez of the Belgian team Davitamon-Lotto and Australian Caleb Manion of the domestic Jelly Belly Cycling team finished second and third, respectively.
STAGE 1 INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
"The circuit turned out to be quite good for me. I only saw the race book this morning and had no idea how it was. I was talking to (Mark) McCormack (competitor on the American team Colavita-Sutter Home) and he said ‘this is just you Lars, good hills and with cobblestones.' And it was. It was a fast circuit," said Michaelson after winning the longest stage of the week, covering 129.8 miles/ 207.4 km.
The field of 119 professional cyclists began at 11:30 a.m. in Augusta, Ga., and finished in just under five hours, with Michaelson leading eight riders to the same time of 4:45:46. Numerous breakaway attempts were unsuccessful due to high race speeds on the rolling route to Macon, with all the racers coming back together for three furious circuits of 2.1 miles each in the "Cherry Blossom Capital of the World". American Aaron Olson of the Spanish Prodir-Saunier Duval squad was awarded the Aaron's Most Aggressive Rider jersey, having led a four-man breakaway after 60 miles into the race that gained an 11-minute advantage. He was the final of the four to be brought back.
"The first two hours were fairly easy and we had the wind with us most of the day and that helped keep the pace high. It was a fast day," added Olson at the post-race press conference.
Michaelson also won the Maxxis Sprint Leader jersey after Stage One. Since he will wear the Ford Overall Leader jersey to start Stage Two, Rodriguez will wear the Maxxis Sprint jersey on Wednesday. The GE Best Young Rider jersey was awarded to Poland's Peter Mazur of Prodir-Saunier Duval. Defending champion Tom Danielson of Discovery Channel Professional Cycling team finished 11th, seconds behind the leaders.
Stage Two will begin at 1:30 p.m. in Fayetteville, Ga. and take the peloton through sprints in Peachtree City, Ga. and Rockmart, Ga., en route to Rome, Ga., a distance of 116.1 miles/ 186.9 km. The first United Community Bank King of the Mountain competition will take place in Rome on Clocktower Hill on the finishing circuit, Wednesday. The race is expected to finish between 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Rider Name MICHAELSEN Lars RODRIGUEZ Fred MANION Caleb HAEDO Juan José RICE Matthew JOHANSEN Allan MENZIES Karl DAVIDENKO Vassili JACQUES-MAYNES Ben VOGELS Henk MAZUR Peter GRAJALES Cesar Augusto POPOVYCH Yaroslav LANDIS Floyd PETERSON Thomas HUNTER Robert BAJADALI Andrew ANTHONY Jesse ALBERS Kirk MARTINEZ DE ESTEBAN Egoi TSCHOPP Johann DANIELSON Thomas FRISCHKORN William PERRAS Dominique BALDWIN Christopher PIPP Frank PINOTTI Marco NOVAL Benjamin ZABRISKIE David O'NEILL Nathan KUYCKX Jan MCCARTNEY Jason EUSER Lucas PATE Danny CLERC Aurélien BRAJKOVIC Janez GUTIERREZ CATALUNA Ignacio ENGLAND Justin EKIMOV Viatcheslav WIELINGA Remmert KOBZARENKO Valery DIETRICH Michael LEWIS Craig VANDBORG Brian CUESTA LOPEZ DE CASTRO Inigo ZAJICEK Phil GATES Nick ROSSELER Sébastien FERNANDEZ DE LA PUEBLA RAMOS Alberto SWINDLEHURST Burke HATTON Peter VAN DE WALLE Jurgen VERHEYEN Geert JONES Brice HERRIOTT Todd JENSEN Brian LANGE Michael PEDERSEN Martin LOUDER Jeffry FRATTINI Davide WELLS Todd SCARSELLI Leonardo ELKEN Evan STALDER Florian TOSATTO Matteo MCCORMACK Mark WILSON Trent VAN HECKE Preben PAGLIARINI MENDONCA Luciano André DOMINGUEZ Ivan GUTIERREZ CATALUNA José Enrique BLACKGROVE Heath INGELS Nic WONG Philip LAGUTIN Sergey BROOKS Benjamin WAMSLEY Kyle COLBY Anthony SULLIVAN Sean OLLERENSHAW Doug GRISHKINE Oleg CANDELARIO Alex MACBURNIE Dustin BRAMATI Davide SCHMATZ Dan LOWE Trent WREN Tyler ZWIZANSKI Scott ARTACHO Gustavo JOHNSON Tim SAYERS Michael RAPINSKI Viktor FRIEDICK Mariano ACTON Alejandro MACGREGOR Ian CRUZ Antonio BLICKEM Ryan HARTMAN Wesley OLIVEIRA FERNANDEZ Luis VENTOSO Francisco SHIRLEY Neil KING Austin LOPINTO Peter CHICCHI Francesco WILCOX Craig REISTAD Nick RINERO Christophe O'BEE Kirk BOWMAN Dan KLOSTERGAARD LARSEN Kasper OLSON Aaron FRASER Gordon GREENFIELD Daniel PIIL Jakob HOPKINS Jeffery MERTENS Pieter KAISEN Olivier STEWART Jackson STAGE 1 TEAM RESULTS
Team Jelly Belly Cycling Team Davitamon-Lotto KodakGallery.Com-Sierra Nevada Pro Phonak Hearing Systems Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team Navigators Insurance Cycling Team Team TIAA-CREF Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team Team CSC Prodir-Saunier Duval Health Net Presented by Maxxis Quick Step-Innergetic Colavita Olive Oil-Sutter Home Wines The Jittery Joe's-Zero Gravity Pro Targetraining Cycling Team STAGE 1 YOUNG RIDER RESULTS
Rider MAZUR Peter PETERSON Thomas ANTHONY Jesse TSCHOPP Johann EUSER Lucas BRAJKOVIC Janez LEWIS Craig FERNANDEZ DE LA PUEBLA RAMOS Alberto HATTON Peter LANGE Michael PEDERSEN Martin STALDER Florian VAN HECKE Preben INGELS Nic MACBURNIE Dustin LOWE Trent MACGREGOR Ian HARTMAN Wesley VENTOSO Francisco WILCOX Craig REISTAD Nick BOWMAN Dan KLOSTERGAARD LARSEN Kasper KAISEN Olivier