The opening stage was a good one. Lots of attacking, breaks going up the road and getting reeled back in. Fun stuff. A break of 4 riders was finally allowed to go down the road, getting about 11 minutes on the field at one point. In the end it came down to a sprint between Lars Michaelson of CSC and Fred (Fast Freddie) Rodriguez of Lotto-Davitamon with Lars taking the win. Funny thing though, while the riders were making their 4 circuits of the 2 mile finish area, Freddy had to change a tire and a bike, each time having to catch up with the field. Makes you wonder if he’d have won the sprint if he hadn’t had those difficulties.
Stage 2 is starting off from Fayetteville and ending in Rome with 3 circuits around downtown Rome including steep climbs up Clock Tower Hill. I love finishing sprints that involve steep climbs. It takes a special kind of rider to win those. Lance won this stage in 04, and Peter Wrolich of Gerolsteiner won it last year. I think we’re going to see the sprinter from Toyota-United, Haedo, make an appearance. He would have contested the sprint yesterday but his leadout man got caught up in the crash and he had to lead himself out. I think he ended up in 7th. We’ll see if his team can get him in position this time.