HUGE DAY FOR HIGH ROAD: HENDERSON TAKES STAGE AND LEAD IN TOUR OF GEORGIA AND KIRCHEN WINS FLECHE WALLONE!

HENDERSON & GREIPEL GO 1 – 2 IN 3RD STAGE OF TOUR OF GEORGIA
Team High Road is celebrating two big victories today, and four podium appearances. All the men and women of Team High Road ride the prototype Giant TCR Advanced SL bicycle.
Greg Henderson won Stage 3 of the Tour of Georgia in a full field sprint at the finish of the 108 mile race from Washington to Gainesville. The victory moves Henderson -- who started the day in second place three seconds behind Ivan Dominguez -- into the leader’s jersey. According to race reports, the sprint at the finish was so fast no rider had a chance to raise his hands in the traditional “victory” salute.
Henderson’s teammate, Andre Greipel, placed second in the stage, putting two High Road riders on the top two steps of the podium for the stage. In the last 2 miles, most of the High Road Team led the entire peloton in a furious pace to bring Henderson to the finish line.
In addition to the GC, Greg Henderson also takes over the Points Classification for the Tour of Georgia. Results and pictures of the stage can be found at:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/apr08/georgia08/?id=results/georgia083

KIRCHEN RIDES GIANT TO FLECHE WALLONE VICTORY!
Team High Road’s Kim Kirchen notched his third win of the season today in the 72nd Fleche Wallone. The Luxembourger played the waiting game and came up golden as he topped the feared Mur de Huy climb while the early attackers faded. The 29 year-old, winner of two stages in the recent País Vasco, won ahead of Australia's Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) and Italy's Damiano Cunego (Lampre).
Noting that he got pipped at the line in the same event last year, Kirchen told cyclingnews.com: "I got second before. It's been the same thing for the last three or four years, except that today I was the strongest," said a very emotional Kirchen at the finish. Asked about his chances in Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday, Kirchen said: "Favorite? I don't know - it's 50 kilometres longer. But if I can recover by Sunday, everything is possible."
Full results and photos can be found at: http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/apr08/flechewallonne08/?id=results

JUDITH ARNDT PLACES THIRD IN WOMEN’S FLECHE WALLONE
In the women’s Fleche Wallone event Team High Road’s Judith Arndt placed 3rd, only :02 seconds behind winner Marianne Vos of Team DSB Bank. She told cyclingnews.com: "We wanted to be aggressive and attack, but somehow it didn't happen… You have to be in the front and I was not really good in [my] positioning today and the team had to work a lot to bring me up."

Full results and photos can be found at:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/apr08/flechewallonne_w08/?id=results

DID YOU KNOW??
The men and women of Team High Road have racked up more victories already this season, riding the prototype TCR Advanced SL, than any other team in the pro peloton??

QUOTE OF THE DAY
“There is a pleasure in knowing that with every effort we make the others behind are suffering as well, often more than we are up front.”
- Michael Barry, Team High Road rider, writing in his diary after spending hours pulling at the front of the peloton in the Amstel Gold
Michael Barry has a new blog on Giant’s RideLife.net where he talks about the life of being a domestique in the pro peloton. He woke last weekend for the Amstel Gold with a strep throat…and got on his bike and rode nearly 200km!! He notes that: “In a quantity over quality society where most dream to be an overnight superstar, a flash in the pan “American Idol,” hard work has been devalued.” Read his whole diary at http://www.ridelife.net/rideLife.html Click on “RIDER BLOGS – MICHAEL BARRY” at the bottom of the page.
We emailed Michael Barry and asked him a few questions about riding Fleche Wallone today with the rest of the High Road team to help Kim Kirchen win. Here are his answers:
Q. Did the team go into the race today planning for the victory?
A. Yes. It was evident Kim had great form in Amstel but lost his patience and attacked too early. Today he waited till the end and it worked. In these tough Classics the leader needs to save as much energy as possible until the final as they are extremely hard and under tough conditions there are only a certain number of hard accelerations you can do until you can no longer follow. So, yes, we knew he could win and we rode as a team to support him and to accomplish the objective.

Q. What was the last 10 km like for the race? Was it obvious that Kim was stronger than Evans and Cunego?
A. The race came down to the last meters so it is never obvious who is the strongest until then, but Kim did look good all day: smooth and comfortable on the climbs with the confidence to win.

Q. Just how bad was the weather at the finish? Photos online make it look like a very nasty slog.
A. The day started beautifully as it was sunny and warm but quickly became foul as we reached the 50 km to go point. The temperature dropped and it was pouring down with rain. The peloton splintered as riders crashed or just got too cold to pedal properly. So, it became a true hard man's day and the strongest won.

Q. You mention in your diary you had a strep throat during Amstel!! How are you feeling today?
A. I felt better and was able to do my work for the team, but I am still not a hundred percent and don’t feel normal. The infection took some gas out of me so hopefully with a few days of rest the antibiotics and my immune system can do their jobs and I will be fine by Liege-Bastogne-Liege on Sunday.