April 21, 2005 – While Stage 2 of the Tour de Georgia was a little less flat than Stage 1, the overall feeling is still, as they might say in the South, like a hound straining at the leash. Once again the pace at certain points during the race was almost glacial, but unlike Stage 1, today saw a couple of coordinated, sincere efforts to chase down breaks. In the end, the win went to Peter Wrolich (Gerolsteiner), followed by Manuel Quinziato (Saunier Duval-Prodir). Lance Armstrong (Discovery Channel), who won on this course in last year’s Tour de Georgia, placed third. The final four laps of the stage included several hills, one a 19% grade, with the finish following a three hundred metre descent. The finish descent may have accounted for some of the intense final moments and ensuing confusion over who actually won the sprint.
The story of the day might have been a solo break by Andrea Tafi (Saunier Duval-Prodir), had the group not succeeded in bringing him back. Tafi, winner of the Paris-Roubaix, and a legendary rider in the European Cycling community, discussed his retirement at the opening Tour de Georgia press conference, just a few minutes prior to Lance Armstrong’s announcement of his retirement. Tafi went for a solo breakaway about 53 miles into the race, a break he was able to maintain until the peloton closed the gap with just six miles to go. Still, it was an amazing ride for one of cycling’s greatest athletes. Unfortunately, many of the thousands of fans lining the race course, who are enthusiastic supporters of Lance Armstrong, had no clue they were witnessing one of the final rides of a cycling champion.
Efforts by Phonak, and later TIAA-CREF, injected some life into the race as they chased down Tafi. But aside from those moves, and some work by Discovery – including Canadian Michael Barry – in the final circuits to position Armstrong for a win, the day smacked of too much neutrality.
On the Canadian team front, Symmetrics were able to manage the day with little difficulty bringing the entire team intact entering the final finishing circuits. “It was either full on or full off today,” commented Symmetrics’ Wohlberg. “Today there was definitely some racing going on. Phonak and TIAA-CREF did a good job of chasing down Tafi and by the time the finishing circuits arrived it was all Discovery at the front.”
Symmetrics’ Jacob Erker added to Wohlberg’s comments, “Discovery does everything possible to protect Lance and the best place to do that is at the front. They were laying it down hard on the clock tower climb. It was an all out sprint every time up the climb. Lance isn’t going to blow but one by one the rest of the Discovery guys were coming backwards through the peloton after each lap. This kept the pace high and we did a good job of holding our own.”
Canada’s Gord Fraser (Health Net) rolled in well back in the sprint after starting the day in 8th position in the GC.
Final results of Stage 2 – Fayetteville to Rome, GA – 197.5 km – were not available at the time of writing.
Thursday’s stage is 30km individual time trial through the streets of Rome. Symmetrics’ Eric Wohlberg and Svein Tuft are looking to put some strong times given they hold nine national TT titles between them. When asked if they had a strategy for Thursday’s stage they both responded with a simple, “I’m just gonna give’r”¦.”
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Dodge Tour de Georgia — Stage 2
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Dodge Tour de Georgia – Stage 2
April 21, 2004 – Domina Vacanze's 2002 World Champion: Mario Cipollini, led the way today in the 118-mile stage 2 of the Dodge Tour de Georgia. Although today's race
finished on a flat 2.1-mile circuit in downtown Columbus, Georgia, the first of the King-Of-The-Mountain (KOM) points were awarded along the route in two KOM sprints.
The long day in the saddle began in Thomaston under clear skies and a
temperature about 65-degree Ferenheit. In front of a large crowd, 113 riders rolled out of town in front. The
attacks began almost immediately on the rolling hills as the riders turned north toward Pine Mountain and the first KOM points of this year's Tour. With the Health Net squad of current race leader Gord Fraser at the front, the attacks were short-lived, until the race approached the 15-mile mark. Navigators' Mark Walters led an attack and was quickly joined by
Jacob Piil (CSC) and Scott Zwizanski (Ofoto). Once the trio had a gap of:
30, Will Frischkorn (Colavita) bridged to the group to make it an even four.
Over the next several hours, the foursome worked well together and steadily
built a lead of over 3:10 on the peloton. The first KOM at mile-35 was
taken by Zwizanski, while Mark Walters topped the second climb in front of
the others. The breakaways continued as Domina Vacanze's Alessio
Galletti worked at the front of the peloton, with the Health Net squad, to keep the break from gaining too much real estate, maintaining a 2:00
cushion. As the racers reached the 100-mile mark, the gap to the leaders
began to drop in anticipation of hitting the remaining three 2.1-mile finishing
circuits in Columbus. After 91-miles in the lead, the peloton finally
absorbed the breakaways with just 12 miles left to race.
The finishing circuits were raced at blazing speeds as Health Net tried to maintain control at the front. The sprint trains of Domina Vacanze, Navigators, CSC and Colnago were alternately driving the pace as each team
positioned their sprinters for the dash to the line. With one lap to go, race
radio was reporting Navigators Insurance in the lead, then it was Domina Vacanze, then back to Navigators, then Health Net, and once again back to
Domina Vacanze. Coming out of the final turn with only 400 meters to the
line, it was Cipollini showing why he is regarded as one of the best
sprinters in the sport. The enthusiastic crowd went wild as The Lion King
hit the line in 1st, followed by Ivan Dominguez (Colavita) and Fraser.
The Navigators Insurance team finished safely in the bunch, as did all of the other race favorites. Tomorrow's action begins with a 1:45 transfer to
the start of a 47-mile road race; Stage 3 in Carrollton, followed by the
Stage 4 18-mile Time Trial just a few hours later, in Rome. The contenders
for the overall G.C. are expected to emerge during tomorrow's action.
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