Fred Rodriguez must like it in Dahlonega. For the second time in thefour-year history of the Tour de Georgia, the American speedstersprinted to a stage win in this small college town at the base of theBlue Ridge Mountains.

Rodriguez burst across the line ahead of Italian Matteo Tosatto (QuickStep-Innergetic) and Discovery’s Yaroslav Popovych to grab victory inthe 118.9-mile stage that begin in Dalton.

“It was really anxious at the end and I was just hoping that it wouldstay together,” said Rodriguez who owns a commanding lead in the chasefor the race’s points jersey and also won the stage into Dahlonega in2003.

”My team did a great job. They set the pace to bring back thelast break. I told them not to take the front until the last couplekilometers, and just make it one aggressive chase to keep the speedhigh. I think we had the whole team there except for one guy. Then Ijust had to play my cards right in the last kilometer. Discovery gottheir guys together really well. Popovych went with about 250 meters togo, but I just hung tight and made the last corner. He sprinted but Ijust came around him.”

At the finish it wasn’t even close, as Rodriguez had at least two bikelengths over Tosatto, with Popovych another few meters back

There was no significant change in the GC standings, meaning the racefor the overall crown at this 601-mile, six-stage event will come downto Saturday’s stage 5 run from Blairsville to the top of BrasstownBald. Current race leader Floyd Landis (Phonak) has a four-second leadover Discovery’s Tom Danielson, and the pair will likely be going headto head up the hors categorie climb to the summit finish.

“I’ll just try not to picture what happened last year,” answered Landiswhen asked if he’ll try to use any kind of visualization before thepenultimate stage. “Danielson is an exceptional climber so I’m going tohave my work cut out for me.”

Last year, Landis came into the Brasstown Bald stage with a 1-minutelead over Danielson, but couldn’t keep up with the waif climber, andended up losing 1:09 and falling to third place overall. Danielson tookthe stage and eventually the overall race victory, with Levi Leipheimerin third. Leipheimer is not racing in Georgia this year.

Before Rodriguez made his winning dash on Thursday, the day belonged toDiscovery’s Jason McCartney who nearly pulled off a solo victory thatwould have closely mirrored his win in this same stage two years ago.McCartney made his way to the front by first bridging across to abreakaway of 11 riders early in the race. From there McCartney slippedaway with Spaniard Francisco Ventoso (Prodir-Saunier Duval) and youngAmerican Lucas Eusher (TIAA-CREF).

“Our strategy played out pretty well,” said McCartney, who was sixth at1:38 coming into the day, making him a threat to Landis. “We forcedPhonak to chase pretty hard. I came close but just didn’t quite makeit. We’ll see how the legs feel tomorrow.”

Indeed with the day wearing on McCartney’s two breakways companionsfinally surrendered early in the ascent of Wolf Pen Gap, the second ofthe stage’s two category 2 climbs. The Iowan made it to the top of thatclimb and the last of the day’s ascents, the category 3 Woody Gap,alone. But the 13-mile, downhill run into the finish was simply toolong, and what was left of the peloton finally caught McCartney withseven miles to go.

“Two years ago I was a lot fresher,” said McCartney when asked tocompare Friday’s stage with 2004 when he managed to solo all the wayinto Dahlonega for an improbable win. “I’ve raced a lot more this yearso the legs are a little flat.”

The Discovery rider made one last stab at victory, attempting a counterattack along with Quick Step-Innergetic's Leonardo Scarselli. But thesprinters teams were having none of it, and McCartney was swallowed upagain. From there Rodriguez worked his way to the front and sailedacross the line for the win.

“It was a hard day with a lot of climbing so my legs weren’t reallyfeeling good,” Rodriguez said. “Discovery made the pace really hardwhich in a way made it easier for me because it took out the rest ofthe top sprinters and they didn’t really have any legs to stay up frontduring the last kilometer.”

Only 36 of the 109 finishes crossed the line with the lead group, andmany of them had to chase back on during the final descent intoDahlonega. But Rodriguez was not one of those who lost touch.

“I played it really smart,” he said. “I tried to conserve as muchenergy as I could in between the climbs, so I was able to ride in thefirst 15 positions in those climbs. At one point over the tough climb,there was maybe 15 guys left. But people trickled back on on thedownhill. At first I was hoping there would be just 15 guys because itwould be a lot easier to go against 15. But then when everybody cameback my team was all intact so it was a positive thing.”

With the final stage of this race almost certain to end in a bunchsprint, everything now rests on Saturday. Also possibly in the mix forthe overall are CSC’s David Zabriskie, third at 0:24, and HealthNet-Maxxis rider Nathan O’Neill, fourth at 0:55.

“I don’t think I can attack on Brasstown,” admitted Zabriskie. “That isa hard climb, and I’m no 50-kilogram Spanish dude.”

That at least partially explained why the American TT specialist jumpedinto the early break of 11 that eventually launched McCartney on hissolo effort. But that was not his only motivation.

“I did it for Saul,” said Zabriskie referring to Dalton, Georgia nativeSaul Raisin who is in a French hospital recovering from a bad crashearlier in the month. “He went through my head a little bit. I had anidea in my head to do that today.”

Raisin was actually in the minds of many. At the start in Dalton greenribbons adorned much of the start area and most of the riders wrapped aband of green tape around their handlebars. Green is of course theprimary color of Raisin’s Crédit Agricole team.

Danielson, meanwhile, did not share Zabriskie’s worries about whatmight happen on Brasstown. He was built for climbs like that and heknows it.

“Worries? I have no worries about tomorrow,” he said almostincredulously after stage 4. “I came here for tomorrow’s stage. I love it.

But if I don’t win, I don’t win. I’ll do my best, but the only worries would be falling off my bike or some kind of mechanical.”

FULL results posted

Official results
1. Fred Rodriguez (USA), Davitamon-Lotto
2. Matteo Tosatto (I), Quick Step-Innergetic
3. Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr), Discovery Channel

Overall Standings
1. Floyd Landis (PHO), 10:27'45
2. Tom Danielson (DSC), +0:04
3. David Zabriskie (CSC), +0:24
4. Nathan O'Neill (HNM), +0:55
5. Jose Gutierrez (PHO), +1:22

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