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Tour de Georgia - 2.3
Georgia, USA, April 20-25, 2004
Main Page Results Previous Stage Next Stage
Stage 4 - April 22: Rome - Rome TT, 29.9 km
Complete live report
Commentary by Kristy Scrymgeour, with additional reporting from Tim Maloney
16:29 EDT
Welcome to this afternoon's time trial stage in Rome, Georgia. The riders have
just started and the lead guys will be going off in the final hour of the race.
16:35 EDT
The first rider to the intermediate split is Jason McCartney (Health Net). He
has passed the two riders in front of him and his intermediate time split at
18km is 28'07 seconds.
16:38 EDT
The parcours is tough and almost 30km long. It is flat before it reaches Mt
Alto where it goes up Radio Springs road, a 4km climb at 7% gradient, before
descending steeply and trickily down the other side.
After Lance Armstrong's win this morning, he is going to be pumped up for this
time trial with a course that really suits him.
16:44 EDT
Johan Bruyneel, DS of Postal, went out on the course after this mornings stage
and came back saying it is tough. "It's a hard course," he said. "Very good
for Lance."
After his audacious win this morning, Armstrong has now put himself into a perfect
position chasing the CSC duo, Bobby Julich and Jens Voigt. They were hoping
to be able to ride off him in the time trial, but the tables have turned, and
as our reporter Tim Maloney said "Lance and Johan have them exactly where they
want them."
16:46 EDT
Another rider to watch today will be Chris Baldwin (Navigators). Navigators
have been a little in the background until now, perhaps waiting for their moment.
Baldwin is current National TT champion and is especially good on hilly courses.
This one will suit him and put him in good stead for the remainder of the race
if he has a good ride.
16:53 EDT
Will Frischkorn is excited for the time trial and is hoping for a top ten position
today. He has good form and the moment and can also climb.
There is also Danny Pate who won the U/23 World Championships on a similar course
in Lisbon in 2001. It will be interesting to see how his form is here at this
race.
16:58 EDT
Currently the top three finishers after 29.9km are Jason, McCartney, Chris Pic
(Jittery Joe’s Coffee), and James Lewis Perry (Barloworld). McCartney's lead
time is 41'19".
17:04 EDT
Glen Mitchell from New Zealand (Sierra Nevada Cycling) just went through the
18km is 29'55".
17:06 EDT
Tim Larkin (Ofoto) just finished and sits second at the moment with a time of
43'45".41
Its overcast and the wind has died down from earlier on.
17:21 EDT
The results are still the same. Jacky Durand has just started so we are about
mid way through the field at this point.
There is a huge crowd at the finish line in Roma, Georgia. Rome is a very nice
little town with a lot of old buildings and the locals are certainly putting
on a warm reception here.
17:25 EDT
Lieswyn has just started just after Will Frischkorn. Lieswyn hasn't been doing
a lot of the chasing for Health Net over the past couple of days as he is considered
their GC man. He will have to do a good time trial today.
17:25 EDT
They are starting at one minute intervals and now we only have thirty riders
remaining.
17:27 EDT
Scott Moninger has now moved into second place at present with a time of 42'15".
McCarty's time is very strong right now. Remember that he was third last year
in the US National time trial championships. He has set the bar high today.
17:30 EDT
The current standings are McCartney, Moninger and Louder.
Craig Lewis (US National Team) has had a fall out on the course.
17:36 EDT
Alessio Galletti (Domina Vacanze) has moved into third place in front of Jeff
Louder with a time of 43'19".
17:38 EDT
David George (Barloworld) who was expected to have a good ride, did not. He
came in with a time of 45'42".
17:41 EDT
Thad Dulin (Colavita) has had a nice ride to move into third place with a time
of 42.38.
17:45 EDT
Brian Vandborg (CSC) has come through the intermediate split posting the second
fastest time. The intermediate split is at 18km at the base of the climb, so
it's not the best indicator, one would say. His time was 28'04".
17:47 EDT
Danny Pate (Health Net) has just finished and moved into third place with a
time of 42'28". McCartney's time is sticking.
Frischkorn and Lieswyn are just about to finish.
17:50 EDT
Three Health Net guys presently hold the top three spots right now. McCartney's
time is very good.
17:52 EDT
The young time trial specialist Brian Vandborg (CSC) has just moved into the
lead with a time of 41'15"50.
17:53 EDT
Cyclingnews just caught up with James Mattis (Webcor) who said the course was
tougher than he thought it would be. On the way to the climb you have a slight
headwind and the climb is hard, but more than that, the descent is very hard.
It is very technical with some tricky turns making it hard to get a rythm. After
the descent coming into town is a slight tailwind.
17:56 EDT
Brian Vandborg (CSC) is race leader at the moment. He is Danish National U23
Time Trial Champion from 2002 and 2003 and also came 8th in the U23 time trial
at World Championships last year.
17:57 EDT
Armstrong has just started. He is looking strong out there on the rough roads.
It looks as if he has changed his arm position a little from earlier in the
year. It doesn't look at low in this race.
18:02 EDT
Canadian time trial specialist, Eric Wohlberg (Sierra Nevada) just posted the
third fastest time of 41.24.
Chris Horner (Webcor) is having a sensational ride so far. At the intermediate
marker he has caught his 4-minute man and posted the fastest intermediate split
time yet of 27'41".
18:04 EDT
Armstrong is looking smooth. He is riding a rear disc and a front tri-spoke.
18:07 EDT
All the remaining riders are on the course now so the race is getting closer
to a result.
Will Frischkorn came in with a time of 43'12" and John Lieswyn's time was 42'47"
which puts him into 8th place at this point.
18:12 EDT
Chris Baldwin (Navigators) just came in to post the third fastest time of 41'22".
He almost caught his teammate Ciaran Power on the way in.
18:16 EDT
Chris Horner has just come through with a new fastest time. He posted 40.36,
almost 45" faster than the previous time set by Vandborg.
18:21 EDT
Viatcheslav Ekimov just posted a new third fastest time of 41.16.
Lance is on the climb. The crowds are huge up there. It is reported that he
was asking the fans "Where's Voigt, where's Voigt," three or four times.
It's a tough climb, he has had to get out of the saddle a few times.
18:21 EDT
When Voigt went through the intermediate sprint he posted a new fastest time
of 27.22.
18:24 EDT
Lance has beaten Voigt's fastest time at the intermediate split. He went through
at 27'07", Fifteen seconds ahead of Voigt.
18:28 EDT
Julich just finished fast, but not fast enough to beat Chris Horner. His time
was 40'55", sixteen seconds slower than the defending champion, Horner.
18:29 EDT
Everyone was wondering whether Horner could do it against the guys who are seasoned
Euro riders. This ride has answered that question.
18:33 EDT
Jens Voigt has just finished with a new best time, 40.13.
Lance is coming it very fast with one km to go now. The crowd is screaming.
18:34 EDT
Lance Armstrong came in with a time of 39.48 to do one better than Voigt.
18:34 EDT
The race is not over yet, still two more riders on the course.
18:36 EDT
It looks like with this ride Lance will take the Peachy leaders jersey and the
USPS team will be in position to control the race going into the hilly stages.
18:41 EDT
The final riders are still on the course and coming in now.
18:44 EDT
Cipollini just came in with a time of 43'40".
Cipollini gave an interview with La Gazzetta della Sport yesterday in which
he praised the race and the organisation. He says he is loving his time in the
US and really enjoying the race.
18:47 EDT
Dominguez just finished with a time of 44.37 and Fraser with a time of 43.48.
It looks like Cipollini won the battle of the sprinters here today.
18:47 EDT
Cyclingnews just caught up with Horner who is not counting himself out here.
"Watch out for me in the mountain," he said. "I didn't come here to get third."
18:49 EDT
Thanks for tuning in for our live coverage. We'll be back tomorrow for stage
5 -Dalton - Dahlonega.
Brief results 1 Lance Armstrong 39:51 2 Jens Voigt (CSC) 40.13 3 Chris Horner (Webcor) 40.36 4 Bobby Julich (CSC) 40.55 5 Brian Vandborg (CSC) 41.15 6 Viatcheslav Ekimov (USPS) 41.16 7 Jason McCartney (Health Net) 41.19 8 Chris Baldwin (Navigators) 41.22
Intermediate split provisional standings
1 Lance Armstrong (USPS) 27.07 2 Jens Voigt (CSC) 27.22 3 Chris Horner (Webcor) 27.41 4 Bobby Julich (CSC) 27.45 5 Jason McCartney (Health Net) 28.07
