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Henderson takes stage 3, overall lead in Georgia

Published: Apr. 23, 2008
Greg Henderson takes the win
Greg Henderson takes the win
Photo: Casey B. Gibson

After two slight misfires, High Road’s heavy artillery got its coordinates dialed Wednesday, firing Greg Henderson into the yellow jersey with an explosive win on stage 3 of the Tour de Georgia. Toyota-United’s Ivan Dominguez, winner of stage 1, lost the leader’s jersey when he came off the group in the hilly closing circuits of Gainesville.

With less than a kilometer to go, George Hincapie wound up High Road’s lead-out with Tour Down Under winner André Greipel on his wheel. Greipel, a big sprinter himself, took over right before the crest of a hill at 300 meters to go. Henderson jumped on the fast, downhill finish and bombed across the line, Greipel on his flank and Slipstream-Chipotle’s Tyler Farrar just behind for third.

The technical finish featured a number of short, sharp hills, which softened the field for the high-cadence finish.

“We were so full of lactate with 200 meters to go, the sprint was done in the seat,” said Henderson, an accomplished track racer. “Coming from the track, all my sprints are done in the seat. But it was horrible, actually.”

At the end of the day, Henderson held the leader’s and sprinter’s jerseys for his trouble, with Slipstream-Chipotle’s Tyler Farrar taking the best young rider’s jersey. Health Net-Maxxis took two jerseys: Rory Sutherland the most aggressive and Frank Pipp the climber’s. The jersey presentation was a Health Net reunion, with all present being current or former members of the American squad.

The day’s break

Four men went clear around mile 40 of the 108-mile day. Team Type 1’s Moises Aldape, Bissell’s Scott Zwizanski and Pipp were joined by Rhys Pollock, the GE Marco Polo who wore the most aggressive jersey for spending the prior day off the front as well.

“I got double-guessed about having the most aggressive jersey yesterday, so I thought I’d have another go at it today,” Pollock said. “We are here to be seen in the race, not to be just sitting in the peloton and following wheels. We’re here to get in breaks, get the GE-Trek-Marco Polo name out there, and just make the race a bit more interesting.”

Scores of small attacks went early on before one finally stuck, said Pollock.

“It was just bang, bang, bang,” he said. “Everybody wanted to be in the break. I had probably four or five attempts. I haven’t been racing much this year, so I’m pretty fresh and I’m motivated to have a go.”

Pipp, in the climber’s jersey from stage 2, took two of the three intermediate sprints on the day. Riders faced more than 7,000 feet of climbing, but it was broken up into hundreds of little kickers.

“I was just playing the team role,” Pipp said. “Everyone was covering the moves today. I just happened to be the lucky — or the unlucky — one.”

Slipstream-Chipotle’s Timmy Duggan was truly an unlucky one, tangling with Toyota-United’s Ben Day and Health Net-Maxxis' Corey Collier on a descent. Day and Collier both remounted, but Duggan did not; he was taken to the hospital with a head injury. Before the stage, Duggan told VeloNews he was on Slipstream’s Giro squad — along with most of his other teammates in Georgia save Farrar — and was looking forward to racing in Italy next month.

Team spokeswoman Marya Pongrace said Duggan is in stable condition, but will remain in the hospital overnight.

The four-man break earned a maximum advantage of five minutes, with Toyota-United, High Road and CSC patrolling the front of the chasing peloton.

With about 20km to go, Zwizanski and Aldape faded off the pace; Pipp and Pollock were caught soon after.

“I always try to make it to the finish,” Pipp said. “Realistically you know you’re never going to, but I still try.”

As the reunited bunch entered downtown Gainesville for two laps, Slipstream’s GC hope Trent Lowe broke a wheel, and a few teammates dropped back to assist. Lucas Euser stopped and gave Lowe his wheel, then Danny Pate helped Lowe chase back on.

With just over a lap remaining, Health Net’s Sutherland attacked out of a corner.

“With the field in a long line, and all the corners, it slows everybody up,” Sutherland said. “It seemed like a good time to go. With the gap, I guess it was, but I wish somebody had come with me.”

Sutherland held off the pack for a few kilometers. With 1km to go Rock Racing’s Oscar Sevilla shot out of the group and quickly bridged up to, and then past, Sutherland.

High Road was having none of it. Hincapie and Greipel connected inside the last kilometer to lead out Henderson.

“We were going, eh?” Hincapie asked Greipel as the teammates embraced.

“With Papa Georgio [Hincapie] leading you out, you’re too scared to fail,” Henderson joked. “I was on his wheel for 30km yesterday and the last 15km today. He’s great because he’s so smooth. He never surges on the uphill and you can trust him to get you into exactly the right position on the circuits.”

For his part, Greipel said he was happy to repay Henderson for his lead-outs earlier in the year.

“Greg did a lot to help me a couple of months ago in the Tour Down Under, so it’s no problem for me to help him here,” Greipel said.

Henderson also recently did his part to set up teammate Mark Cavendish for the win at Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen last week.

Henderson finished a narrow second on stage 2 to CSC’s J.J. Haedo. Stage 3’s win went over well with team management, who was already celebrating Kim Kirchen’s win at Flèche Wallonne earlier in the day.

“These wins today are special because of how they happened with excellent teamwork and relentless work by the individuals,” said team boss Bob Stapleton. “Hendy has led out sprints for teammates dozens of times, but keeps extraordinary motivation and determination. I am really pleased with what's behind these wins.”

The Tour de Georgia now moves to the 16km team time trial at Road Atlanta, a twisty and hilly car racetrack.

Tune in to VeloNews.com at 1 p.m. EST Thursday for live coverage.

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