RODRIGUEZ FIFTH IN DOWNHILL SPRINT IN GAINESVILLE
Gainesville, Ga. —
Rock Racing’s Fred Rodriguez scored his second top 10 placing of the
Tour de Georgia presented by AT&T on Wednesday’s fast run-in to the
finish in Gainesville.
“Fast
Freddie” was fifth in a downhill field sprint in which Greg Henderson
and Andre Greipel went 1-2, respectively, for Team High Road. Tyler
Farrar (Slipstream Chipotle presented by H30) was third.
Rodriguez
said a climb leading up to the final corner, immediately followed by a
wide, 300-meter downhill stretch to the finish line, made it tough to
make up ground in the closing moments.
“It
was basically which team had the best leadout coming through that last
corner and today it was High Road,” Rodriguez said. “It’s hard to come
off that corner and make up ground. By the time you make up speed,
you’re already going downhill.”
For
the second straight day, Rock Racing’s Oscar Sevilla made a bold move
once the race reached its finishing circuit of the 108.2-mile (174.1
km) race that began in Washington.
“It was a hard finish and we decided to have me go for it,” Sevilla said. “I wanted to make the race as hard as possible.”
But
Sevilla was reeled in, which shifted the pressure back to Rodriguez.
The three-time U.S. national road champion has won more stages of this
race – four – than anyone else.
“Unfortunately,
I wasn’t feeling 100 percent,” Rodriguez said. “When Sevilla attacked,
I knew it would make it better for me and maybe he would get in the
right move and win the race. If we couldn’t win with one of his
attacks, he would hopefully set me up for the win.”
The
results of Wednesday’s stage did shake up the overall standings. The
leader since Stage 1, Ivan Dominguez (Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team),
fell back on the finishing circuits and conceded the yellow leader’s
jersey to Henderson.
Thursday’s
Stage 4 team time trial at the Road Atlanta Grand Prix race track in
Braselton will be the first of its kind in a U.S. “grand tour.” Each
team will put all eight of its riders on the 2.5-mile Le Mans style
track for four circuits of the hilly, 12-turn track. Two teams will be
on the track at a time and each team's time will be taken from the
fifth team member across the line.
— RRC —
Photo attached: RRC_SevillaAttack.jpg
Courtesy: Vero Image
Cutline: Rock Racing's Oscar Sevilla right) gives it a go in the waning moments of Stage 3 at the Tour de Georgia.
