2008tourgeorgiastage6

2008 TOUR DE GEORGIA

STAGE SIX

Because of the cut-off time for vehicles being allowed to come up the mountain we elected to skip the start of stage six and went straight to Brasstown Bald. We spent a good deal of time cooling our heels in the parking area talking to fans, vendors and team personnel. When the riders started getting close we walked on up to the top to get into position for the finish.

As usual the finish was as exciting as a cat in a microwave. It boiled down to a an old fashioned cage fight between Levi Leipheimer, Tent Lowe and Kanstantsin Sivtsov. Now that last one is a mouth full, for simplicities sake just remember that it is pronounced just like our more commonly used Constantine here in the good ol U.S. and that we are just going to use his first name most of the time...

Levi and his team Astana tried to break the competition early in the climb but they couldn't pull it off. As the climb neared the top he just couldn't shake the other two riders. Then when they attacked him he didn't have enough grunt to answer the attacks. Kanstantsin of Team High Road managed to out climb both Levi and Trent for a solid victory atop the now infamous summit of Brasstown Bald. Trent Lowe of Slipsteam Chipotle finished a strong second and Levi Leipheimer came in third with a fair gap going back to the next finishers.

I have lots of photos and other interesting stuff to post up about this stage but it will take me a while to get it all disseminated. Keep checking back as I spice up the pot with more information.

THIS FIRST PHOTO SET COURTESY OF JIM SIMES

THE FIELD IS STRINGING OUT & THE DIE IS BEING CAST