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Landis holds lead as CSC's Vandborg wins stage 4 in Georgia
The results sheet for stage 4 of the Dodge Tour de Georgia showed CSC’s Brian Vandborg as the day’s winner. And indeed the Dane did win the wicked 133.4-mile test from Dalton to Dahlonega, finishing in 5:33:02. But the bigger victor on a Friday afternoon where racers were brutalized by wind, rain and hail, was American Floyd Landis.
Despite repeated efforts by Lance Armstrong’s Discovery team to rip it away, Landis (Phonak) held onto the overall leader’s jersey, and is now just one long day of climbing away from dethroning last year’s Tour de Georgia winner. Just as he did following his victory in the stage-3 time trial, Landis leads CSC’s David Zabriskie by 19 seconds. Bobby Julich (CSC) is third at 0:28, with Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner) fourth, at 0:50, and Discovery’s Tom Danielson fifth at 1:00.
Armstrong is eighth overall at 1:42.
“I’m not setting odds,” answered Landis when asked to access his chances as the race heads into what will almost certainly be the overall GC decider, the 113.4-mile, stage-5 grind that concludes with the hors categorie climb up Brasstown Bald. “Those Discovery guys have a strong team. It’s going to be tough to beat them. They are going to gang up on us. I wouldn’t say I’m the underdog. I’m certainly as strong as anyone in the race, but I’m outnumbered and that makes it difficult.”
If experience in dealing with bad odds is any benefit to Landis, he certainly gained some on Friday. Discovery, with a Georgia squad that includes four Tour de France regulars in Armstrong, Jose Rubiera, Jose Azevedo and Viatcheslav Ekimov, was on the attack for most of the day. The leader of that brigade was the Spaniard Rubiera, who launched a move just 16.8 miles into the race at the base of the category 2 Fort Mountain, and stayed off the front for most of the rest of a day that included five rated climbs.
Phonak did get some help at the front early on from Health Net-Maxxis, which kept the tempo up for the first 14 miles, looking to keep sprinter Greg Henderson in the points jersey, which it did. But following that opening sprint, Rubiera made his charge and was joined by CSC’s 19-year-old Andy Schleck, Saunier Duval-Prodir’s Marco Pinotti and Gerolsteiner’s Michael Russ.
Behind the break, marquee names like Gord Fraser (Health Net-Maxxis), Mark McCormack (Colavita Olive Oil), Ben Brooks (Jelly Belly-PoolGel) and Marc Walters (Navigators Insurance) were shed from the main bunch.
Looking to add strength to the break, Gerolsteiner’s Sven Krauss bridged across, and the move had a 30-second lead at mile 21. A few miles later, as the gray skies began to turn black, LPR’s Elia Aggiano made the jump to the leaders, and the day’s most significant breakaway had been established. Conspicuously absent from the group was Phonak, which took to the front and led the chase.
“I’d been riding quite well, but today, even when I didn’t win, I felt really good,” said Rubiera who ended up 23rd on the stage. “The whole day I was in the breakaway and most of the time pulling by myself.”
The first of a series of hard, heavy rains began to fall on the peloton at mile 30, just over an hour into the race. With winds blowing spectators’ umbrellas inside out, lightning and heavy rain battering the windshields of caravan vehicles, the conditions grew so treacherous that many began questioning whether the stage might be cancelled.
“It was like driving through a car wash,” said Jelly Belly-PoolGel team director Danny Van Houte. “What other sport does anything like this? Man, these guys are tough.”
Coming into the day’s second sprint in the town of Ellijay, the leaders held a 1:02 advantage, which stretched to two minutes as the group approached the category-3 climb up Woody Gap at mile 80. With Russ struggling to keep the pace, Rubiera attacked at the base of the climb, leaving Russ and Aggiano behind.
Thousands of diehard spectators lined the road up Woody Gap, knowing their position would allow them to see the rain-soaked racers twice; Woody Gap was climbed twice, sandwiching ascents up the eight-mile, category-2 Neel’s Gap and the category-2 Wolfpen Gap.
The three leaders reached the base of Neel’s Gap at mile 91 with a three-minute lead. Behind, a chase group consisting of Azevedo and last year’s stage winner Jason McCartney (Discovery Channel), Christian Vande Velde and Michael Blaudzun (CSC) and Saul Raisin (Credit Agricole) slipped off the front of a dwindling peloton.
Noticeable departures from the main bunch included Cesar Grajales (Navigators) and Phonak’s Niki Aebersold and Tomaz Nose, all dropped by the intense pace — led, curiously, by Saunier Duval, whose top-placed rider in the group, Pinotti, was 2:24 down on GC.
“In cycling there are always people with different interests and sometimes you end up having to do the same kind of work,” admitted Landis. “I needed help and they wanted to win the stage so it works out all right for everybody.”
Atop Neel’s Gap, the lead group maintained a 1:30 lead over the five chasers, with another 1:30 back to the main field. However, after McCartney began to drop off the pace, the chase group was reabsorbed at the top of Wolfpen Gap.
In the main bunch approximately 23 riders remained, including Landis, who was without teammates. Also there was Armstrong, who was joined by teammates Danielson, Ekimov, McCartney and Azevedo; CSC’s Julich and Zabriskie, joined by Vande Velde, Schleck, Vandborg and Blaudzun; Navigators’ Nathan O’Neill, three Saunier Duval riders, including Pinotti; Raisin; Leipheimer; two riders from LPR; Health Net’s Scott Moninger and Justin England; Aussie Trent Lowe (Jittery Joe’s-Kalahari) and Jelly Belly’s Danny Pate.
After the descent from Woody Gap into the old gold-mining town of Dahlonega, Pate attacked with 10km remaining, opening a 10-second lead.
“I thought, ‘Why wait?’” said Pate, who ended up 18th. “Since I’m not a Discovery or CSC rider, I thought they might let me go. You can wait and wait for the right moment, but sometimes you just end up waiting and never making a move. It was worth a shot.”
It appeared the Jelly Belly rider might hold his lead, but Pinotti had other ideas and bridged across, chased by Vandborg, McCartney and Ekimov. The final battle would come down to Vandborg and Ekimov.
“I was suffering quite a bit,” Vandborg admitted, adding that had late leader Ekimov dug just a little harder it might have been Discovery taking the win. “I think Eki was closer to dropping me than he thinks he was, but it worked out perfectly for me. [McCartney] sacrificed for Ekimov and also for me. In the final corner we were side by side and I just pushed the big gear. Luckily I succeeded.”
Pinotti ended up third behind Vandborg and Ekimov.
Landis can only hope his luck will hold out as well. He survived the Discovery barrage on Friday, but knows there is more to come.
“We expected that would be their tactic today,” said Landis of Discovery’s aggressiveness. “Their strength is the number of guys they have, so I imagine tomorrow will be the same thing.”
That strategy was all but acknowledged by the other side.
“We were aggressive. We were active,” said Armstrong. “We did everything we could to win the race. Unfortunately Eki just got beat at the end. We gave it our best, and we will do it again tomorrow. Floyd is very strong — the strongest. But he has no team. They can roll on the flats, but as soon as they go uphill, they all drop.”
Race notes
Faulty Navigation
One day removed from placing two riders in the top five of the time trial, the Navigators’ fortunes turned sour. Worst off was former USPRO champ Walters, who crashed out of the race and had to be taken to the hospital. The good news was that his injuries were confined to road rash on his left side and he was released from the hospital before nightfall on Friday.
Back out on the road, the Navs’ two best GC hopes, American Chris Baldwin and Colombian Grajales, both suffered though tough days. Baldwin, who was third in the TT, limped home in 40th at 7:14. Grajales ended up 73rd at 23:37.
“Chris just didn’t have it today,” said team director Ed Beamon. “The pace was pretty high and he just blew up. Cesar completely cracked. I think the weather was too much for him. As soon as the rain came I knew he was done. He’s kind of a frail guy and he hasn’t raced much this year.”
Barry out
Discovery also lost a rider, when Canadian Michael Barry abandoned the race at mile 42. Barry had said at the start that he had been suffering gastrointestinal problems all week, and was having difficulty eating.
Barry certainly wasn’t alone. All told, 14 riders dropped out, with another 13 missing the time cut. Ninety riders remain in the race at this point.
Colavita-Sutter Home lost Mark McCormack and Juan Jose Haedo, who were both disqualified for extended motorpacing.
The jerseys
Dodge Leader's Jersey: Floyd Landis (Phonak)
Maxxis Sprint Leader's Jersey: Greg Henderson (Health Net-Maxxis)
Georgia Power KOM Leader's Jersey: Jose Luis Rubiera (Discovery Channel)
GE Best Young Rider Leader's Jersey: Trent Lowe (Jittery Joe's-Kalahari)
Preliminary top 10
1. Brian Vandborg (Den), Team CSC
2. Viatchslav Ekimov (Rus), Discovery Channel
3. Marco Pinotti (I), Saunier Duval
4. Jason McCartney (USA), Discovery Channel
5. Bobby Julich (USA), Team CSC
6. Mauro Santambrogio (I), Team LPR
7. Lance Armstrong (USA), Discovery Channel
8. Floyd Landis (USA), Phonak
9. Sven Krauss (G), Gerolsteiner
10. Daniele Contrini (I), Team LPR
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