HIGH ROAD’S HINCAPIE TAKES 3RD IN TOUR OF GEORGIA STAGE 5;

(April 25, 2008) Riding the prototype Giant TCR Advanced SL, George Hincapie of Team High Road took third place in Stage 5 of the Tour of Georgia. His teammate, New Zealander Greg Henderson, struggled to keep up with the pack near the stage end. After wearing the leader’s jersey for 2 days, Henderson wound up passing it over to Slipstream’s Trent Lowe.

Near the end of Stage 5 of the Tour of Georgia, Team High Road’s chances to keep the yellow jersey on Henderson looked in doubt. With 10 KM to go, Henderson was having a problem keeping up with the main peloton in the 133-mile stage from Suwanee to Dahlonega. On the 2nd of three big climbs, Woody Gap, race reports indicated that several of Henderson’s teammates were waiting for him to catch up to the main group.

A four-man breakaway, that had led for well over 70 miles and at one point had nearly an 11-minute gap, was finally caught on the last climb of the day near the top of Crown Mountain.

It was then that veteran racer George Hincapie broke with several other big name riders on the final climb: Levi Leipheimer (Astana), Oscar Sevilla (Rock Racing), and Bobby Julich (CSC). Rory Sutherland, the Health Net rider Hincapie battled and outsprinted to win the final stage of the Tour of California, was alongside, too, as was Richard England of Team Bissell. With less than 100 meters to go, England jumped and finished first. Hincapie placed third, behind Sutherland…and finished with the same time as England.

Slipstream’s Trent Lowe takes over the GC by virtue of his team’s top time trial performance in Stage 4. Lowe was the first of his team to cross the finish line in the TTT.

For the most part, the riders had good weather – 75 degrees and sunny skies at the start. There were scattered showers at the top of the climbs, and a few riders who were dropped abandoned the race.

It was not a good day for two team cars. Team cars for Health Net and BMC collided a little more than an hour into the stage. But both cars managed to continue on to support their riders.

For full race results and photos go to:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/apr08/georgia08/?id=results/georgia085
and
http://www.velonews.com/article/75334/england-wins-stage-5-in-georgia

For more information on Team High Road, go to:
http://www.highroadsports.com/