STAGE 5
Stage 5 begins in my hometown of Gainesville. It even goes right by my front door as it has every other year. I live on what is probably the most popular road for cyclists in North Georgia. (I wonder how that happened??) After leaving Gainesville the riders will fly up Clarks Bridge Road, right by my home, where I will be hosting my annual Tour de Georgia party. From there the peloton will head towards Clarkesville for the first time in Tour history. (We will jump in the Dodge to hammer on up to Brasstown) Afterwards they head for the mountains and climb four mountain passes including Hogpen Gap which is a seven mill uphill torture fest. They will decend off the back side of Hogpen at well over 60 m.p.h. and head toward the final climb of Brasstown Bald which is Georgia's tallest mountain which just happens to have a road all the way to the summit.
After 100 plus miles of desperate racing and unimaginable climbing these boys are going to get slapped by the Bald. Unless you have ridden these climbs you cannot comprehend how hard they will be. All over the planet folks seem to doubt that we could have steep roads here in Georgia but they just don't know. One of my favorite rides in Colorado is to leave Boulder then take Lee Hill Road to Left Hand Canyon, climb up through Ward then take a lap around Brainerd Lake. From here I take the Peak to Peak Highway to Nederland then drop back down the Canyon into Boulder for lunch. I can ride this route twice in a day easier than I can do what this stage is going to take out of the racers. Riding up Hogpen and Brasstown back-to-back is even harder than the climb up Mt. Evans to me. So if any of ya'll Kolo"rad"o boys think that ya'll have the sickest hills around then think again. North Georgia and North Carolina are the best states for road cycling in the nation.
Expect Cesar Grajales who was picked up by the Navigators team to give Lance and the Europeans a fast rabbit to chase if his team gets him to the bottom of the hill intact. He spanked them on this stage last year and you better bet he wants to stand on the top of that podium again. This is the Jittery Joe's team home turf and they should take a big try at this stage also. I am so excited about this stage that I can barely control my bladder. I want to see a shootout between Lance and Cesar that should go down in gun-fighting history.
Remember that if you get any real cool shots of this stage or have a comment to pass on to the peanut gallery please send it to bicycling@coolbicyling.com. For high resolution printable .pdf files of these maps follow this link the the Official Tour de Georgia website.
SCENES FROM LAST YEARS BRASSTOWN CLIMB
STAGE 5 ROUTE MAP
STAGE 5 ELEVATION MAP
THIS YEARS TEAMS LAST YEARS TOUR
