Tour de Georgia 2008 Stage 7 Live Updates

Race starts at 1:00 p.m. ET

and welcome to VeloNews.com’s Live Coverage of the 7th and final stage of the Tour de Georgia, 10 laps of a 6.1-mile route around a circuit at Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park. The riders have just left the start and we can expect a battle for the stage with a tight race for GC today and only a few opportunities for the challengers to take time.

in Atlanta. The weather may be a factor today, as riders cover a course on wide roads, with a series of turns.

The big points on the route will be the three intermediate sprints, with three seconds of bonus time available at each. Of course with the top-three within 14 seconds of one another, those could be a factor, especially for Trent Lowe of Slipstream out of first.

the pressure is on at the front, with riders attacking out of the field. Of course, we see the High Road team of Kanstantin Sivtsov is patrolling the front. They will be happy to let non-threatening riders go, since they would then gobble up bonus time, cutting away at the chances of Lowe and Leipheimer to take time from the man in the yellow jersey.

has formed with several riders off there. We’ll try to ID, but it looks like High Road is not giving chase, so we doubt there are big threats in there.

High Road is still in control of the main field, with a healthy break off the front.

From the looks of it, there are no riders who pose a threat to High Road’s grip on the overall. They have 40 seconds and they may be able to stay away. Certainly High Road isn’t putting in a chase.

Hilton Clarke (Toyota-United)
Justin England (Toyota-United)
Doug Ollerenshaw (Rock Racing)
Sebastian Lang (Gerolsteiner)
Aaron Kemps (Astana)
Cameron Evans (Symmetrics)
Rhys Pollock (Marco Polo)
Tom Danielson (Slipstream)
Darren Lill (BMC)
Aaron Olson (Bissell)
Matt Cooke (Health Net)
Matthew Crane (Health Net)
Christopher Jones (Team Type 1)
Jared Barrilleaux (Jittery Joe’s)

Canadian champion Jacob Erker (Symmetrics) was in the break, but he’s had a flat and is now back in the peloton.

isn’t the only one out there. The rain seems to have brought out the road crud and there have been several flats in the field. We have to assume that High Road has an emergency plan in place if Sivtsov is among the tire victims today.

the lead group scooted through the first intermediate sprint, with no one contesting the line. We’ll get you a list who earned those points.

is at the front of the peloton making sure that no one tries to snag any time from the race leader.

We have results from that first sprint.
Sprint results:
1. Matt Cooke (Health Net)
2. Rhys Pollock (Marco Polo)
3. Tom Danielson (Slipstream)

our leaders are now 56 seconds ahead of the peloton and they are nearing the end of the third lap. Average times are running just around 14:50 for a lap.

Sebastian Lang has crashed with Matt Crane.

Crane and Lang are chasing so the lead group is down to about 10 riders. They still have a 55 second gap.

Let’s take a look at the GC positions of the men in the break
Hilton Clarke (Toyota-United), 89th at 29:41
Justin England (Toyota-United), 54th at 19:07
Doug Ollerenshaw (Rock Racing), 41st at 10:00
Aaron Kemps (Astana), 94th at 36:58
Cameron Evans (Symmetrics), 36th at 7:40
Rhys Pollock (Marco Polo), 92st at 31:52
Tom Danielson (Slipstream), 45th at 11:38
Darren Lill (BMC), 16th at 3:29
Aaron Olson (Bissell), 43rd at 10:28
Matt Cooke (Health Net), 22nd at 4:25
Christopher Jones (Team Type 1), 17th at 3:40
Jared Barrilleaux (Jittery Joe’s), 69th at 24:17

is improving. It’s just cloudy and the roads appear to be drying up.

is now at 1:05. No one in the break poses much of a threat, so High Road must be happy with things as they are developing.

Jacob Erker had a flat, but he made it back up there. So he’s in the mix. So, Mr. Live Update Guy, is actually up there?

Justin England (Toyota-United)
Cameron Evans (Symmetrics)
Rhys Pollock (Marco Polo)
Thomas Danielson (Slipstream )
Aaron Olson (Bissell)
Jacob Erker (Symmetrics)
Matt Cooke (Health Net p/b Maxxis)
Hilton Clarke (Toyota-United)
Christopher Jones (TT1)
Jared Barrilleaux (Jittery Joe’s)

The leaders are heading toward the second sprint of the day, meaning that High Road is seeing the race unfold as it is.

By the way, we’ve received a number of letters about the return of Ivan Basso to the peloton. He’s poised to join Liquigas when his two year suspension ends this summer.

Several of you have correctly asked how he’s managed to join a ProTour team, given that ProTour rules would exclude him from those events for a period double the original suspension. Well, as some have said, the ProTour is in many ways, dead. Liquigas is angling hard to get Basso into the 2009 Giro and working, too, to get him into a later – perhaps 2010 – version of the Tour, neither of which is a ProTour event. It remains to be seen if that strategy will prove to be successful.

It appears that the frequency of flats has eased up a bit with the rain dropping off.

is back under the 1:00 mark – now at 45 seconds While High Road is happy to let these guys vacuum up the extra time bonuses, they remain vigilant. Add to that the other teams wanting to narrow the gap, we might see the margin continue to shirink.

The leaders are nearing the finish of the fifth of 10 laps.

over the day’s second sprint mark, the leaders are just 40 seconds ahead of the field.

took the intermediate sprint.

1. Chris Jones (USA), TT1
2. Jacob Erker (Can), Symmetrics
3. Jared Barrilleaux (USA), Jittery Joe’s

is still controlling the front of the peloton, with the escapees holding at 50 seconds.

who just won the second intermediate sprint has had a flat and is now chasing to get back into the lead group.

is about to be pulled back by the main field. We’ve had another flat in the lead group, as they cross the finish line, with four laps to go… well some sort of mechanical. Anyway, he’s back. We have nine riders in the break.

the peloton crosses the line 51 seconds after the escapees.

is still handling its job at the front of the peloton. The team is apparently content with a break hovering 50 seconds ahead of the field.

to go, the leaders are 50 seconds ahead of the field.

Trent Lowe – the man sitting four seconds out of the lead – is getting a wheel change.

is working his way through the race caravan. He’s getting help from a couple of teammates, but High Road is ramping it up.

Lowe is back in the peloton and working his way up to the front and is settled in with the rest of the team and hanging right behind High Road.

Three laps to go.

the nine leaders are now just 35 seconds ahead of the main field.

the leaders will be hitting the day’s third – and final – intermediate sprint mark at the end of this lap. After that, it’s going to be two laps – 12.6 miles – to go.

the nine leaders are still far enough ahead to get those points.

It looks like Justin England takes that one.

the line about 40 seconds behind the leaders. Two laps to go.

the gap is at 1:05.

The leaders are heading to the end of the penultimate lap.

The Rock team has moved to the front. They have dispensed with their lime-green-highlighted kits with something with Orange and Yellow… a move reflecting the innate sense of fashion by the owner of the team.

One lap to go. Ding! Ding! Ding!

is coming down. The nine leaders are now just 40 seconds up the road. Rock continues to ride near the front, hoping to set up Freddie Rodriguez for a stage win

It’s coming down fast, as the peloton is led by Rock Racing and its cadre of former ProTour riders.

Rock is getting a hand from Jelly Belly.

Up front, England is attacking out of the break. He’s caught, and the peloton is coming up fast.

continue to chase. Up front, the leaders are working hard to stave off the hounds. England is shadowing a move from Evans. You can see the peloton moving up fast, though.

is strung out… and the capture looks close.

Astana’s Colom attacks out of the field. He’s 1:02 down on GC, so there is no panic.

are together, shadowing each other The peloton is coming up on the lead group as the course closes in on the finish here in a bit.

two riders – Colom and CSC’s Bobby Julich have eight seconds.

uphill…. and it’s Greg Henderson, High Road, the points leader wins his second stage and his teammate grabs the overall. Nice work High Road.

it looks like J.J. Haedo was second.

and High Road has reason to celebrate. They get both the yellow jersey, the points jersey and are the only team to win more than a single stage at this Tour, winning three in total.

wins the overall title of the Tour de Georgia.
The race today had little impact on the overall standings, so Trent Lowe (Slipstream) takes second by four seconds and Levi Leipheimer (Astana) is third at 14 seconds.

It’s been a great week and thanks for checking in with us. Come back soon for a complete race report, photos and results.

We’ll be back in May for Live Coverage of the Giro d’Italia. Thanks again.

Now go ride your bike.