Race starts at 11:00 a.m. ET

And welcome to VeloNews.com's Live coverage of the 2008 Tour de Georgia.

Today's stage 6 is the one we've all been waiting for: the 88.4-mile charge from Blairsville to the top of Brasstown Bald, the highest point in Georgia.

The course will soften the riders' legs before they even get to the bottom of Brasstown. They will do a big loop to the west of Blairsville, then head south and east, passing over Hogpen Gap and Unicoi Gap before the mountain top finish.

If you haven't already, you might want to read Ben Delaney's preview of today's stage

The neutral zone has ended, we are now really racing

Oh, it's a sticky, foggy, sweaty day. It's hot in the sun, not too bad in the shade, but it will be a sticky day on the climbs.

they have 15 seconds, waiting for an ID ...

Tyler is one of them ...

Astana is monitoring the front, keeping everything together for Leipheimer.

Looks like Farrar and his companion are back in the fold, but there is some activity at the front, still.

Rock Racing's Sevilla is getting a wheel change. Botero is waiting for him.

The Toyota-United team has little signs on their saddles, they say: "Give me a push up the mountain!"

Tim Duggan remains in the hospital. He had surgery on his scapula yesterday and he still had a trace amount of bleeding in his head, so they are keeping an eye on him for another day or two. But doctors are very optimistic about his progress.

Jonathan Vaughters is wearing a sharp yellow sweater in honor of Lowe's lead. He says it's a fitted Paul Smith full zip cotton number.

And there is a move up the road -- six or seven guys. Maybe 8 riders: we see Slipstream's Danny Pate, Aarron Kemps from Astana, Anders Lund from CSC.

Leipheimer is at the front, helping to bring it back.

Pate will not be working in this group, with Lowe in yellow ... Vaughters seems pretty happy with this move, our guy in the Slipstream car reports.

They have 15 seconds

Horner and Rubiera are at the front for Astana. Still 15 seconds.

Ok, Kemps fell back from the break to help Astana.

Others in there:

Lund,

High Road's Henderson,

Gerolsteiner's Ordowski

Keong from Marco Polo

Sayers from BMC

Teddy King from Bissell

Frank "Power" Pipp from Health Net

Team Type 1's Matt Wilson

Elkin from Jittery Joes

Reistad and Tuckerman from Jelly Belly

Is similar to yesterday, so far - lots of little rollers. We don't envy these guys on this sticky day.

Slipstream Tom Danialson lost a few seconds at the end of yesterday's stage, and that had some folks wondering about his fitness.

Actually, he dropped his chain on that last kicker hill, trying to dump it from his 52x23 into the small ring. That was enough to cause him to lose contact with the leaders.

And the break has been brought back.

the field is strung out as we go over some rollers. Astana still at the front.

Sevilla dropped his chain, and some teammates dropped back to help him. He's having a tough day.

Another move happening at the front ...

Three chasing.

Actually we have several.

JoE Silva, who you may know from the VeloNews podcasts and fine articles, is up there.

"Weather gorgeous, with a cool breeze," Joe says. "Mid-seventies. Cars lined up at the base of the mountain in either direction for a mile already."

We spoke with race leader Trent Lowe this morn. He said he feels just a bit of pressure from the jersey, but his team is so strong he's not too stressed.

"We have three or four guys who can get up Brasstown pretty well," he said.

We have seven riders off the front with 35 seconds.

They are:

Craig Lewis of High Road

Andrey Mizurov of Astana

Stephan Schreck of Gerolosteiner

trying to get the others, stand by ...

Type 1's Valery Kobzarenko

Toyota's Ivan Stevic

Neil Shirley of Jittery Joe's

Svein Tuft of Symmetrics

Michael Creed of Rock Racing

has had another wheel change, this time the rear. He's having a tough day.

wouldn't it?

It is Jason McCartney, not Kobzarenko, in the break

The gap is 1:50.

we are at KM34

They have almost three minutes now. This looks like the break of the day, folks.

The team of race leader Trent Lowe doesn't have anyone in the break; they want to keep it within reason.

The gap is 2:20 now

CSC's Jason McCartney is the best placed rider in the break, at about 30 seconds behind Lowe.

So he's the leader on the road, now, for what that's worth ...

Slipstream still leading the chase. the group is rolling through. This is the first time this week Jittery Joe's has been able to get into a significant break. Neil Shirley can climb, too, this could be a good day for him.

Astana has a man in the break, but he is not pulling through ... he's just monitoring things for Leipheimer. Astana is near the front of the chase, but leaving the work to Slipstream ... so this break works well for Astana, not so perfect for the Slippers.

Today's sprint is back in Blairsville as the riders complete their opening loop and heads out toward Brasstown.

the field is 1km from the sprint.

They are messing with his jersey or his radio

Neil got the points, Stevic was second, Schreck was third

Vaughters says he's satisfied with this break, but he'd be happier if Slipstream had a guy in it ...

2:35 is the latest gap.

Some of Michael Creed's fans in Colorado Springs are getting excited, we hear.

The chase is going up a steep little hill, some fans beside the road, ringing bells ...

Our race leader is sitting fourth in the peloton behind three teammates as they tuck down a nice little descent.

the gap is 2:50. Slipstream is keeping the pace steady in the pack.

We also spoke with Chris Horner at the start this morning. He said he is 100 percent committed to helping Leipheimer today.

Horner said we could see some crazy team tactics on the Brasstown climb as Astana and Sliptream have two or three riders each who could still be at the front at least half way up the final climb ... with the close GC competition, it could be a fun ride.

Looks like a disco out here, all the guys with their jerseys unzipped. Just need some gold chains.

The break is working well together. We are at mile 45.

But there are lots of little rollers here. we will be heading up Craigs Gap before we hit Hogpen, which is the first KOM climb.

The gap is coming down.

We are at KM77 with the field.

Pate Euser and Farrar are at the front, rolling through.

The gap is coming down as we approach the feedzone

The break is 5km from the summit of Hogpen Gap

Hogpen is a cat 1 climb, a steep sucker. Astana might try to spring someone on this climb ... the gap is down to 1:45.

If the pack reels in the break on Hogpen, things could get wild over the last 30 miles, when we head over Unicoi and then on to Brasstown. It will be tough for Slipstream and Astana to control anything in that terrain, and all sorts of wild cards could come to the front.

Nice road here, seems a bit cooler as we head up in altitude.

The riders are all taking musettes and now they are getting back to work.

The break has hit the start of the steeps, they are all out of their saddles. McCartney is leading, looking a bit cramped. Shirley is looking sprightly

Stevic was dropped

Lewis is dangling a bit.

The gap is holding

the Symmetrics rider is leading, McCartney still at his right, Shirley looking totally comfy sitting behind those two

Gerolsteiner's Schreck is off the back with Lewis

Shirley leading now, followed by Tuft, McCartney and Astana's Mizurov

Farrar and Euser are dropping back from the chase group

the chase is hammering, the gap is coming down fast

The four are hitting the 1k to the top line

The local stores must be completely out of chalk, as the 5km climb up Brasstown is covered in cycling graffiti. Of particular prominence are orange and blue designs: Slipstream has some fans in Georgia.

We saw 10-foot argyle diamonds, tons of names, and the DZ Zone, where some guys spent the better part of quite some time scrawling DZ a few dozen times.

the four are battling, Mizurov might be hurting a bit, but of course he's not supposed to pull through anyway

500 meters to the summit

that last time split must have been a mistake. Now the officials are saying 1:45

But McCartney takes the KOM

We have to apologize: an hour ago we reported Rock Racing's Mike Creed was in the break ... he was not. He was the mystery 8th rider who we never could quite ID ...

In any case, we are now down to four riders off the front. They are over Hogpen summit but haven't' hit the fast part of the descent yet.

The break is screaming down this narrow technical descent.

Mizurov is still hanging off the back.

The field has come over the top. It's trimmed down to about 50 guys.

That was fun. We're down from Hogpen and rolling along again. We need a split.

Reports from the peloton is that Leipheimer was at the front for most of the descent.

VeloNews.com has posted an article about the gearing choices for today's Brasstown Bald climb.

Six chasers have gapped the peloton and have about 30 seconds. Sevilla may be in there

Shirley and Mizorov have been dropped by Tuft and McCartney

Shirley has caught back on, Mizurov is catching now ...

So we have four at the front

And then six - the Sevilla group, at about 2 minutes

then 30 seconds back to the peloton

There is a High Roader in there, an Astana rider, a CSC rider ...

the Rock Racing rider in the group of six is Santiago Botero

It's raining up there

Botero of Rock Racing

Brad McGee of CSC

Craig Lewis and

Thomas Lovkvist of High Road

Stefan Schreck of Gerolsteiner

Jose Luis Rubiera of Astana

people are starting to cover up.

Botero normally would be dangerous, but he hasn't had a great week. He got dropped in the team time trial.

the six are within sight of the four leaders

Lewis has fallen off the bridging group,

So now it's five latching on to the four.

When they come together we will have 2 CSC riders and 2 Astana riders

The peloton is splitting apart, there is a main pack of about 30. They are only 1:45 behind the four leaders. The five bridgers are within maybe 15 seconds of the four leaders.

Gerolsteiner's Stephan Schreck is falling off of the bridging group, so now we have four chasing four.

We are getting close to the base of Unicoi Gap, our second KOM mountain.

McCartney is on the front as they approach Unicoi.

This is a big wide road, with a climbing lane. When they get over this, there's not much break before the Brasstown fun begins

The McCartney group is still 30 seconds ahead of the Botero group. McCartney is not letting up to let the four catch on

The four look similar to the the top of Hogpen - McCartney and Shirley at the front, Astana's Mizurov sitting on

Just like on Hogpen, McCartney took the KOM points by several lengths.

And he's calling for a drink from his team car. Will this four wait for the Botero group now?

Neil Shirley took a little flyer that McCartney quickly contained. The Botero group is still 30 seconds back.

The remnants of the peloton - maybe 45 riders? is together, with some Slipstream riders at the front.

McCartney is tireless. He's at the front, his hands near the stem, just pumping out the watts. The Botero group still a half minute back.

Back in the pack, our race leader, Trent Lowe, is sitting pretty behind a couple teammates, and Levi Leipheimer is near the front, sitting behind teammate Chris Horner.

The peloton is two minutes behind the McCartney group. The Botero group is 1:30 ahead of the peloton.

We are at mile 80.

the Astana man has dropped back to the Botero group

Shirley has broken off the front alone, chased by seven

He has a gap over the seven,

1:40 back to the peloton we hear -- not sure if that's the gap to Shirley or to the seven ...

Shirley has about 20 seconds over the chasers

He's out of the saddle a lot, still hasn't got to the meat of the Brasstown climb ...

the drizzle has cleared off. They say any real stormin' won't arrive until later in the afternoon.

He's on Owl Creek Road and out of the saddle, looking over his shoulder.

He likely saw the peloton and the chase group bearing down. Not a pretty sight when you are struggling up a grade like this.

getting reeled in, there are riders splitting all over the road, now, as we approach the Brasstown in earnest

McCartney and Rubiera are catching and dropping Shirley

Rubiera and McCartney are leading the race.

It's McGee and Rubiera, sorry, not McCartney

in no man's land, waiting for the peloton.

now we get a little descent

Bobby Julich has left the peloton and is moving up to his teammate, McGee.

meanwhile up front, Rubiera is leading McGee.

Julich is not making much headway.

They have now hit the official start of Brasstown.

Astana, perhaps Horner, is leading a select group.

McGee popped from Rubiera.

There is an elite group chasing,we see Leipheimer, Lowe, Horner, Danielson?

The group is bearing down on Rubiera

Rubiera, Horner, Leipheimer

followed by Lowe and four or five others. We see a Rock Racing boy in there.

Lowe is looking good.

Moises Aldape is there, the Team Type 1 rider is hanging on.

We don't see any other Slipstreamers there ... Leipheimer has two teammates, Lowe has zip

Antonio Colom is leading the group, Horner and Mizurov Rubiera have dropped off

Sevilla was the RR dude, and he's dropping off

Sevilla is catching back on, that makes seven, with Leipheimer, Lowe, Sevilla .. they are hitting the steepest part.

Lowe is on his wheel, both are out of the saddle. Colom has popped

Leipheimer and Lowe and High Road's Siutsou are all that's left

2k to go

and Siutsiou are pulling away.

Leipheimer looks in control, he's keeping an eye on Lowe. He only needs a few seconds to take the overall lead.

Lowe is on form, too, needless to say. He has his mouth closed, breathing through his nose on the steeps, poker faced

leipheimer is on the front, then Lowe, the Siutsou

Sevilla is within sight of the three, making his way back on a slightly easier section.

they are under the kite

Sevilla on the front.

And Rory Sutherland is coming out of no where, closing on the front four

Leipheimer is jamming, 500 meters

Siutsou attacks with 450 meters

watching each other

almost stoppped

Now Levi goes!

Leipheimer takes off, but Lowe is on him

looks like he will have it

Lowe and Levi still together

he's got the win

Lowe was with Leipheimer - he will retain the yellow

Leipheimer threw down some vicious attacks in the last k, but Lowe matched all of them

Lowe actually made up time on Leipheimer in the last few meters.

Wow, he just calmly stayed on Leipheimer's wheel and outkicked him in the last few meters (which, on this grade, is a long stretch)

Lowe goes into he final stage with an increased overall lead.

And that's all from here. Keep an eye on VeloNews.com for a complete report, results, photos and even a wattage report from Health Net's Frank Pipp.