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Tour de Georgia 2008 Stage 3 Live Updates
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10:56 AM: On tap
Stage 3 is 109.7 miles (176.5km), from Washington to Gainesville.
That would be Washington, Georgia, and Gainesville, Georgia, by the way, so you aren't confused with these fine communities' lesser-known namesakes in other states.
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11:00 AM: The route
We're heading east to west. There is one KOM summit, at the 40 mile mark, then three intermediate points and time bonuses awarded in the second half of the race.
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11:08 AM: The contest
If you click on the yellow Specialized "Enter to Win" tab over on the right, you can enter to win a new pair of Specialized Miura sunglasses or a Roval Rapide Star Carbon clincher wheelset.
Guess the stage winner and the winner's time for today's stage before the 10km to go mark to be eligible for the daily prize, the Specialized Miura sunglasses
VeloNews will choose a random winner from among the correct entries.
Even if you don't guess correctly, you still have a chance of winning the Roval wheelset. All entrants will be entered into that drawing at the end of the race.
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11:09 AM: Ok, we're rolling
We've started on the mile and a half neutral zone out of Washington. There's a good sized crowd here in the town square.
It's about 70 degrees with a light breeze and gray skies ...
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11:14 AM: Horner
We spoke with Astana's Smilin' Chris Horner this morning.
He predicts this is another day for the sprinters. He says all the big sprint teams: Gerolsteiner, Slipstream and High Road, were sharing the work load yesterday. He said Astana would put a couple of guys at the front today and predicted that CSC, after Haedo
s big win yesterday, would feel obligated to chip in today. -
11:18 AM: Fast start
The field is strung out already. At mile 4, we have three guys off the front. Jittery Joe's Trent Wilson, Mike Lange of Jelly Belly, Mike Creed from Rock Racing. They have 20 seconds, another rider is bridging.
Rolling terrain, lot of trees, quiet tree lined road.
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11:24 AM: At mile 8
Our three guys have been caught.
Ryan Sullivan from Jittery Joes is trying to go.
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11:25 AM: Sullivan
He's already been brought back.
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11:26 AM: Julich is hanging
Bobby J. is hanging out near the CSC car, not sure what he needs ...
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11:27 AM: CSC's Bochman
Lasse Bochman is now back at his team car, it looks like he might be quitting the race, he's fading back to the caravan.
We are coming into the little town of Tignall, now.
The start is still quite fast today.
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11:28 AM: Bochman is out.
We hear over the race radio that he has, indeed, gone on to pursue other interests.
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11:32 AM: We're cruising
Anywhere from 22 to 26 mph. It's a nice rural road, tree-lined.
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11:42 AM: Zabriskie's stash
We have some readers concerned about our lack of coverage of DZ's facial hair. We promise to do our best to get a good shot today.
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11:48 AM: Field together
Mile 19.
We had three guys off the front: Matt Crane of Health Net-Maxxis, Matt Shriver of Jittery Joes and Yilin Liu of Marco Polo. - All back now.
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11:49 AM: Another move
We have a Symmetrics rider and another Jittery Joes rider taking a dig.
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11:58 AM: They've been brought back
At mile 23, we have a solo attack by Chris Jones on Team Type 1.
Jones was in an earlier break at around mile 8, so this is his second go.
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11:59 AM: Mile 25
And Jones, one of our favorite 'cross racers, by the way, has been reeled in. But you should see him ride the sand pits.
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12:24 PM: Pipp
Our KOM leader Frank Pipp is taking a flyer. We were lucky enough yesterday to get Pipp's power readings after he took the KOM. If you are a power stats geek, you will find the article fascinating.
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12:27 PM: Crash on the descent
Looks like three guys down. One may have been Tim Duggan on Slipstream
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12:31 PM: Mile 40
Approaching the feed zone, four riders off the front: Rhys Pollock, Scott Zwinzanski, Pipp and Moises Aldape.
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12:32 PM: 1:20
The four have a minute and 20 seconds. This group is the first of the day to get a real gap.
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12:33 PM: Duggan
Duggan is getting a trip to hospital. Ben Day, who also crashed, is up and riding.
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12:35 PM: 2:10 is the gap now
The peloton is passing through the feedzone.
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12:38 PM: The break
We have Health-Net (Pipp), Bisell (Zwizanski), Marco Polo(Pollock) and Team Type 1(Aldape) in the break.
Gap is now 2:30.
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12:39 PM: Coming up on the sprint
Our breakaway boys will likely get the points and time bonuses up for grabs here.. We are about 4k to go
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12:43 PM: Over four minutes now
These four are making some headway. The pack seems content to let them go.
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12:45 PM: The ambulance
The ambulance has passed the race caravan with Duggan
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12:46 PM: the points
Our leaders have passed the points.
Pipp got first ...
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12:49 PM: Second and third
Aldape, Zwizanski was third
Their lead is almost 5 minutes. The field really slowed down in the feedzone. The pack also had to slow to let the ambulance go by, which further increased the gap.
Toyota-United, Health-Net and CSC at the front.
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12:53 PM: Toyota-United
The U.S. team is leading the chase. They appear to be trying to keep it in reign, not a lot of urgency.
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12:55 PM: The gap
A nice round 5 minutes. We can see Rock Racing's Tyler Hamilton near the front, just behind the Toyota-United crew.
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01:01 PM: Big crowds
The road was lined with people as we passed through Danielsville; now the leaders are weaving around the town ...
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01:03 PM: Approaching the 60 mile point
And the second sprint of the day.
The four are working well together.
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01:10 PM: Rolling, rolling
Just up and down all day, very little flat.
And as we approach Gainesville, it's more up than down.
Not a mountainous day, but the culminative ascent will end up pretty impressive, I'd guess.
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01:12 PM: Approaching that second sprint
We'll see if Pipp can pip another. That will make interesting wattage numbers for us to look at tonight ...
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01:13 PM: Pipp
He accelerates on the left and gets a solid gap over the line.
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01:13 PM: We're passing another big crowd
A nice crowd..
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01:14 PM: CSC lending a hand
There's a CSC rider up front, helping Toyota-United with the chase ...
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01:15 PM: Aldape and Pollock
take the second and third place points.
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01:18 PM: Gap shrinking a bit
Now about 4:30 as we pass another school and its pupils out cheering on the media cars ... and the race.
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01:24 PM: We're passing an equine center
Nice country, here. The gap seems to be settling in just over four minutes.
CSC's Jason McCartney is helping out Toyota-United, still not a lot of urgency to the chase.
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01:40 PM: Pipp
We have been remiss in updating Frank Pipp's palmares in our VeloNews bio section.
His career highlights include an Elite National Criterium Championship in 2004 and 2007 wins at the Presbyterian Healthcare Invitational, a stage of the Nature Valley Grand Prix, the Coppenberg Road Race and the Edgar Soto Memorial Stage Race.
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01:46 PM: UPDATE
Ok, we still have our four riders out with about a 4:15 gap.
They are: Frank Pipp (Health Net-Maxxis)
Moises Aldape (Team Type 1)
Rhyss Pollock (GE Trek Marco Polo) and
Scott Zwinzanski (Team Bissell)The chase is being led by Toyota-United.
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01:50 PM: Mile 73
Dan in Newport Beach did some work for us. He says today's stage has 7,217 feet of total climbing and 53 miles of the stage are uphill.
7,200 feet of climbing has got to take a toll on the legs, even if it does come in little spurts, rather than in 2 or 3 big climbs, as in a mountain stage.
Thanks Dan!
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02:05 PM: Dominguez
Our race leader is sitting nicely near the front, out of the wind behind a cadre of teammates leading the chase.
Looks to us that the pace is picking up a bit with about 35 miles to go.
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02:06 PM: 3:50
Yup, the gap is under 4 minutes now.
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02:08 PM: Zwizanski
The Bissell rider has been maybe the quietest in this break, and he might be struggling a bit now.
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02:12 PM: High Road joining in the chase
A couple High Roaders moving up. And two or three CSC guys are mixing in with the T-U chasers.
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02:13 PM: 3:45
The gap is shrinking a bit more. We are on a nice smooth road now, seems like we are going more down than up these last few miles.
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02:15 PM: 3:25
High Road is really chipping in and the gap is shrinking.
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02:16 PM: Henderson
High Road's Henderson is their guy for the finish today.
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02:21 PM: 2:30
Woo. The gap is coming down fast, maybe faster than T-U would have liked.
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02:22 PM: The pause that refreshes
The four breakaway riders are passing a Coke can around.
They will need it, the break is down to 1:45 -
02:24 PM: That time gap
is really dropping. The four leaders - Frank Pipp (Health Net-Maxxis), Moises Aldape (Team Type 1), Rhyss Pollock (GE Trek Marco Polo) and Scott Zwinzanski (Team Bissell) - have just 1:45 on the main field. Toyota-United is hovering around the front, but the bulk of the work is being put in by High Road and CSC.
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02:25 PM: If we're lucky
we'll get another look at Frank Pipp's power data again today. We got a peek at his from yesterday.
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02:28 PM: Closing in on town
With the catch coming up, we have to expect another field sprint. With just 25k to go, the peloton is really ramping it up.
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02:30 PM: A reminder
If you click on the yellow Specialized "Enter to Win" tab over on the right, you can enter to win a new pair of Specialized Miura sunglasses or a Roval Rapide Star Carbon clincher wheelset.
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02:32 PM: 1:00
The gap is down to 1:00. Our leaders may soon come into view, which would give the chasers a little oomph.
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02:33 PM: CSC and High Road
are still in the front of the peloton. Another day for J.J. Haedo? High Road, with Henderson tucked in, has different plans, for sure.
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02:34 PM: With 20km to go
the catch could occur within a few km. The gap has yo-yo-ed back to 1:30, but the four fellers up front seem to sense the inevitable.
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02:37 PM: Fading
Scott Zwinzanski (Team Bissell) seems to be having a bit of trouble.... and Moises Aldape (Team Type 1) fades, too. We have two guys off the front and they only have 50 seconds on the main field.
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02:40 PM: The two stragglers
are about to be caught. It looks like the steady rollers that punctuated these last few kilometers have taken their toll. It's a matter of time before the two leaders are swept up, too.
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02:43 PM: Pollack and Pipp
are heading toward town and the day's finishing circuit. It's going to be a few km and they may make it. Ahead, they have two-and-a-half trips around the circuit. With the big teams moving up - we even see Astana in there - we can expect the catch to be made here soon, though.
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02:46 PM: The gap is down to 20
seconds and the hounds are nipping at the heels of the escapees. They can see them and Pipp and Pollack are offering the traditional sign of surrender... the quick glance over the shoulder.
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02:47 PM: And then there was one
Pip is now trying to go off on his own... ain't gonna happen, though.
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02:47 PM: Caught
It's all together, now. The pace is picking up and we'll see the sprinters' teams lining up here, soon.
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02:52 PM: As the peloton heads toward
the finishing circuit, the High Roaders are leading, as they speed toward the finish line, before beginning the two trips through the circuit. Already riders are being spit off the back.
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02:53 PM: Strange
One person we don't see up there is Dominguez, the race leader. Across the line and about 4.5 miles to go.
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02:54 PM: Teams
are moving up. We see team Astana, CSC and team Lawyers, Guns and Money... errr uhhh.... I mean Rock Racing, is coming up, too. Dominguez is hanging at the back of the field.
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02:56 PM: Dominguez
He's obviously been a factor in the last two stages, but he's no where near that. These roads are tight and rolling. It seems unlikely that he's going to work his way up.
And we see an attack: Health Net's Rory Sutherland is taking a dig. He has a nice little gap.
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02:57 PM: Wowie
Sutherland is really putting in a big effort and has 10 or 11 seconds as he crosses the line. Dave Towle is screaming as he rings the bell for the last lap.
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02:58 PM: Sutherland has 12
With less than two miles to go, Sutherland is really powering through narrow roads and the chase is starting to pick up.
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02:59 PM: The chase is on
He's holding on to a smaller gap now and it looks that he may be caught in the final kilometer... and Dominguez has been dropped. He's going to lose the jersey, for sure.
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03:00 PM: Caught and passed
Oscar Sevilla (Rock) catches and zooms past Sutherland. Here comes High Road with 1km to go
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03:01 PM: Sevilla is still
out there.
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03:01 PM: Caught and passed
It's a field sprint...
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03:03 PM: And the winner is
... we can't tell. No, Greg Henderson. It was that points jersey that confused us.
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03:04 PM: Dominguez still riding
and he comes across the line. He's certainly lost the jersey today. Henderson, meanwhile, is celebrating his win. He may move into the lead. We'll let the officials do the math. Stand by folks.
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03:17 PM: Top finishers
1. Greg Henderson (NZ), High Road
2. André Greipel (G), High Road
3. Tyler Farrar (USA), Slipstream -
03:19 PM: Henderson
scores twice. It looks like our new race leader is Greg Henderson, so all that work the High Roaders put in paid off... in spades.
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03:34 PM: Well, that's a wrap
We'll have full results, photos and a stage report coming up soon. Thanks for joining us today and we'll be right here tomorrow for more up-to-the minute coverage of the Tour de Georgia.
Go ride your bike.
