THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Tour de Georgia: Clinger takes Atlanta, Horner the overall
Saturday’s stage from Dalton to Gainesville pretty much sealed the overall Dodge Tour de Georgia victory for Saturn’s Chris Horner, but there was still some unfinished business and suspense left for the grand finale in downtown Atlanta on Sunday. In the end, though, there was no catching Horner. Meanwhile, Fred Rodriguez fell short of a third consecutive stage win when Prime Alliance’s David Clinger scored his biggest victory for his new team.
The race began on a near-perfect afternoon, under sunny skies at Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park in downtown. On the docket was 10 laps of a fast 9.8-mile circuit that snaked through downtown, looped around past the Jimmy Carter Center, came back and hung a right on Peachtree Street, and then turned around to head back to the finish line.
As the race rolled out, Rodriguez still had an outside shot at the overall G.C. He trailed Horner by 18 seconds, but there was the possibility of gaining a total of 19 seconds in time bonuses: three seconds for each of three intermediate sprints and a 10-second bonus for winning the final sprint. In other words, Rodriguez would have to win everything, and Horner would have to be shut out of any bonuses at all.
Not surprisingly, Rodriguez’s mind was more on scoring a stage-win hat trick than on the slim chance of the overall. "I really wanted to win the stage," he said. "I felt there was only a slight possibility of winning the overall."
Still, the American sprinter came out firing, winning each of the first two sprints. But when Horner snuck in for third place and a one-second bonus on the first sprint, Rodriguez’s G.C. window was shut closed.
All doubt was removed when a group of six escaped midway through the day and scooped up the bonuses from the final sprint prime. That group – Jacob Erker, Peter Knudsen (Schroeder Iron), Adham Sbeih (Sierra Nevada-Clif Bar), Steve Larsen (Webcor), Maarten Den Bakker (Rabobank) and Tim Larkin (Ofoto-Lombardi Sports) – would stay away all the way until the final lap, gaining a maximum advantage of about a minute.
Taking up the chase, though, was Prime Alliance, who had been stung on Saturday’s climbing stage and was looking for a little redemption. With the team in blue and white leading the chase, things were back together on the final circuit. Prime’s Jonathan Vaughters launched a brief attack, but things were all back together for the slight uphill finishing sprint.
Navigators began leading the sprint out for Henk Vogels, but with about 200 meters to go, Clinger jumped around on the left side of the road and looked to have a good gap. Charging up fast on the right, though, was Rodriguez, and the two hit the line virtually in tandem, with stage 2 winner Moreno DiBiase (Formaggi Pinzolo) also right beside them.
After several seconds of anticipation, the finish line judges ruled that it was Clinger, by a tire width, who had taken the win, Prime Alliance’s first of the Tour de Georgia. "For the team, it’s a big win for sure. They’ve been trying to get me up for the finishes every day, and I’m just glad I finally came through for them," said Clinger.
For Rodriguez, the second-place time bonus moved him ahead of Saturn’s Nathan O’Neill into second place overall.
Just a couple riders behind, in 10th place, Horner rolled in and celebrated taking the overall win in the race’s inaugural running. The Saturn rider was happy to add another win to the team’s 2003 collection, and also happy with the first year event. "America really needs good bike races," he said, "and it doesn’t get any better than this."
Race notes
* About seven riders were involved in a bad crash midway through the race. Worst off were U.S. Postal’s Roland Green, Saturn’s Charles Dionne and Ofoto-Lombardi Sports Roman Peter. Green had occupied third place at the start of the day, although he had dropped to fourth after Rodriguez won the day’s first sprint. The extent of their injuries were not yet clear, although both Green and Dionne were taken to the hospital with facial and other injuries.
* The final winner’s jerseys: Overall: Horner; King of the Mountains: Horner; Sprint: Rodriguez; Best young rider: Saul Raisin (Ofoto-Lombardi Sports).
Click here to see how the day's racing unfolded.
Photo gallery from the final awards.
