April 23, 2003 (Georgia, USA) – The first road stage of the Dodge Tour of
Georgia brought the riders 217K through the hills of the beautiful Georgia
countryside. The finish was held on a 3K circuit, with a sprint for
mountain points each lap before the final sprint for the victory, and with
it, as it turned out, the honour of donning the Yellow Leader's jersey. The
finish was a nail biter, and only with the assistance of the photo images
were officials able to pick the winner, Navigator's Henk Vogels. Vogels'
win also moved him into Yellow by one-second over Saturn's Nathan O'Neill.

The time bonuses early in the race were the focus for the 7-UP and Saturn
Teams with only seconds separating race leader Nathan O'Neill, Chris
Horner and 7-UP's Greg Henderson. The first time bonus was won by Horner,
moving him behind O'Neill by only one-second, but Henderson also collected
some time, and was certainly considered a factor in the final sprint by
O'Neill's  Saturn Team.

None of the teams were concerned when Sierra Nevada's Nieko Biskner escaped
after the time bonuses. He spent the majority of the race solo, opening up
a maximum lead of nearly five minutes in an impressive effort. However, by
the 160k marker, the young rider's efforts finally  wavered, and the field
arrived whole into the finishing circuits.

Upon entering the circuit Prime Alliance's Matt DeCanio had a go and opened
a 15-second gap, however, after his stage win in Sea Otter, he was clearly
not a rider who the other teams were willing to give too much time to, and
was quickly brought back to the fold. From there, the Mountain Sprints kept
the field busy, with Saturn's Horner winning all three and claiming the
King of the Mountain Jersey at the end of the day.

Coming into the downhill finish, the teams with their sprinters left waged
a fast lead-out, with Vogels and Miguel Meza (Schroeder Iron) battling it
out to the final millimeter. In the end, after studying the finishing tape,
the officials  decreed Vogels the winner over Meza, with Uros Mun finishing
in third. Vogels' win moved him into yellow, one second ahead of Saturn's
O'Neill and  three seconds ahead of Horner.  His win also garnered him the
lead in the Point's Jersey competition. However, with more long road races
facing the peloton, and only mere seconds separating the top GC spots, the
racing is far from over, and the battle for the Yellow Jersey promises to
be a hard fought one indeed.