April 22, 2007 — In an admirable display of determination, Jittery Joe’s rider Cesar Grajales valiantly took one for the home team on Sunday at the final stage of the 2007 Tour de Georgia. Grajales worked most of the day with severe pain from a separated shoulder as part of a three-man breakaway along with Health Net’s Kirk O’Bee and Priority Health’s Ben Jacques-Maynes. The small crew kept away from the main field most of the day, but in the end the 107.2km (67 mile) circuit race around downtown Atlanta stage went to CSC’s fast man, J.J. Haedo.

Haedo, who lost a close contest yesterday to fellow sprinter “Fast” Freddie Rodriguez of Predictor-Lotto, got his revenge today by taking a far less stressful win over Rodriguez to wrap up this year’s Tour de Georgia.

“It was a good course. A very American-styled course. There’s nothing bad that I can really say about it,” commented Haedo after his win.

Which contrasts a distinctly different impression from some of Haedo’s fellow competitors who navigated across nine laps of bumpy roadways filled with potholes, gravel, and uneven pavement.

“I could never really get comfortable,” said Grajales after he deservedly won the Most Agressive Rider prize of the day. “And because I couldn’t raise my arm to signal the car, I got very thirsty on the last laps. It was very hard. My team director told me maybe I should not race today, but I came here to race and to do the right thing for the team.”

Safely tucked away in the peloton was the young Slovenian rider Janez Brajkovic (Discovery) who had pretty much put a lock on the yellow race leader’s jersey once he went up the challenging Stage 5 climb up Brasstown Bald without losing time to CSC’s Christian Vandevelde.

With no King of the Mountains points today, Canada’s Ryder Hesjedal (Health Net) retained that jersey through the finish, with Haedo winning enough points at the line to keep the Maxxis Sprint Leader’s jersey to himself.

Results (Unofficial)

1. José Haedo (Arg) Team CSC 2.25.30
2. Fred Rodriguez (USA) Predictor-Lotto
3. Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team
4. Ivan Dominguez (Cub) Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team
5. George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team
6. Justin England (USA) Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team
7. Ruggero Marzoli (Ita) Tinkoff Credit Systems
8. Daniele Contrini (Ita) Tinkoff Credit Systems
9. Evan Elken (USA) Jittery Joe’s Pro Cycling Team
10. Charles Dionne (Can) Colavita/Sutter Home p/b Cooking Light

Final GC

1. Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team