STAGE 4 TOUR DE GEORGIA 2008

2008 Stage 4 Videos and Press Release

BRASELTON, Ga. (April 24, 2008) - American-based Slipstream Chipotle presented by H30 averaged over 29 miles per hour en route to winning the inaugural Team Time Trial (TTT) at the Tour de Georgia presented by AT&T by four seconds over Astana (LUX). Team High Road (USA), the last team on the 2.5-mile course today, finished third at six seconds back.

"We really didn't know what to expect coming into a team time trial...on a car and motorcycle race track like Road Atlanta," said Tom Danielson, the team leader for Slipstream Chipotle, who was the champion of the 2005 Tour de Georgia. "Honestly, it was a lot like a car race or a motorcycle race out there. Equipment, team effort, tactics were the key to our victory today."

The 2.5-mile, 12-turn race track is normally used for motor sports events such as the Petit Le Mans. While motor sports participants ride the course in a clockwise direction, pro cyclists today rode the TTT in the opposite direction. The hilly course began with a 14 percent gradient on the first climb and featured tight turns throughout. The TTT was also unique in that the riders used rode bikes instead of time trail bikes.

"This is a pretty technical course and we talked to (riders) from a lot of different teams and they felt we made the right decision to go with just their street bikes," said Jim Birrell, race director for the 2008 Tour de Georgia presented by AT&T. "I thought they would be more efficient on their street bikes than their TT bikes, with this climb and with the technical descent. What it does is give a level playing field for all riders."

Greg Henderson (NZL) of Team High Road will remain as the General Classification leader and retain the AT&T Overall Leader's Jersey for a second day. Henderson has a 15-second lead over German teammate Andre Greipel. With the win today, Slipstream's David Zabriskie moves to third overall and his teammates Danielson and Christian Vande Velde move up to fourth and fifth in the G.C., respectively. The second place showing by Astana helped two of its top American teammates move up in the G.C. as well - Levi Leipheimer to eighth and Chris Horner to ninth. George Hincapie (USA) of Team High Road is just outside the Top 10 in 12th place.

Slipstream's victory comes one day after rider Tim Duggan was injured in a crash during Stage Three of the Tour. Duggan remains in a Georgia hospital in stable condition.

"It really shook me up and almost made me feel, maybe I want to quit bike racing," said Danielson upon hearing of Duggan's crash and injuries. "But I got it together and we realized we are going to do this for Timmy. He started a new foundation called the 'Just Go Harder Foundation', so we put that on the back of our seat posts. So while we were hurting (in the TTT) we could see just go harder. And we did, we just went harder for Timmy."

The Maxxis Sprint Leader jersey will remain with Tyler Farrar of Slipstream and the United Community Bank King of the Mountain jersey will stay with Frank Pipp of HealthNet presented by Maxxis. Rory Sutherland of Health Net was awarded the Georgia Lottery Most Aggressive Rider Jersey today and his teammate Trent Lowe (AUS) was awarded the GE Best Young Rider jersey. Lowe won the GE Best Young Rider at the 2005 Tour de Georgia.

Stage Five is the Tour's longest stage at 133.4 miles (214.7 kilometers) and is the first of two mountain stages. Riders will depart from Suwanee at 10:00 a.m., marking the first time the Tour has started in Gwinnett County. There will be three battles for UCB KOMs at Burnt Mountain, Woody Gap and Crown Mountain before reaching the finish line in Dahlonega. The course also features a Georgia Power Sprint in Cumming. It is the fourth time that Dahlonega has hosted the Tour (2004-2006), with this year's stage expected to finish between 2:50-4:15 in the afternoon.

Festivities began early at the Road Atlanta track on Thursday, with N2 a Cure's Adult Charity Ride. For an hour, the track was open to recreational cyclists to "ride like the pros" and 140 cyclists took part in the event. The proceeds benefited the Aflac Cancer Center and Blood Disorders Service of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. The Health & Wellness Expo in Dahlonega on Friday will be open to the public from 1:00-5:00 p.m.

 
Official Results - Top 10 Time Trial - Stage Four

2008 Stage 4 Full Results

• General Classification After Stage 4
  
  
• Time Trial Results
  
  
• Best Young Rider
  
  
• Teams Results