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4/20/2007 - TOUR DE GEORGIA STAGE 5: Brasstown Bald

Maybe it was standing on the side of the road in the sun yesterday or the time spent driving, but either way we enjoyed sleeping in today. We had talked about doing the Circle the Bald route this morning but decided to take a more relaxed approach to the morning.

After filling our stomach with eggs and bacon we packed up our cooking gear and unpacked our riding gear. It was 10:30am. We wanted to be atop the mountain by about 2pm so we figured there was time to ride for a couple hours, come back to the campground for a shower, and then head towards Brasstown.

West from the campground, south to Hwy 180, and then east on HWY 180, we were riding towards Brasstown Bald. Hwy 180 continues east past the mountain but spur 180 heads up the mountain. This spur would be the final 3 miles of today’s stage with 2000' of elevation gain in these several miles. Our plan was to ride towards the Bald for about an hour and then turn around so we could make it back to camp with enough time to reverse tracks and get atop the mountain before the race arrived.

There were many cyclists on the roads. Most were traveling in the opposite direction as they were on the Circle the Bald ride. Others were traveling the same direction as us, especially once we turned east onto Hwy 180. There were some long uphill sections as we pedaled closer to the spur. It was a gorgeous day for riding, sunny and 75. At our designated time we turned around and backtracked to the campground.

Following quick showers and some random food for lunch, we drove the same roads we had just ridden. A flat spot on the shoulder of Hwy 180 was a nice parking spot for our van. We walked about 20 minutes past other parked vehicles on the shoulder of the highway to reach the spur to Brasstown. By now it was about 1:40pm and the race leaders were expected to reach the spur around 3pm. We paid a few bucks to take a shuttle van to the parking lot that is just shy of the mountain top.

As I remembered from last year, the walk from the parking lot to the top of the mountain is steep. The pros' legs would be on fire pushing it up this final 0.5 mile and 400+ feet of clmbing. We were breathing hard just walking up this piece of road but we were not the only ones. Cycling commentators Bob Roll and Phil Leggit were also making their way from the parking lot to the top. They had many more rest stops than us, as they couldn’t make more than a few yards of progress before someone else wanted to pose with them for a picture.

The mountaintop was much less crowded than I had remembered from the previous year. Of course this stage was on a Saturday last year as opposed to a Friday this year. That must have prevented some spectators from making it to the race.

In the final 100m of the climb the road takes an “s” shaped path. There is a hard, steep corner to the left followed by a right hand corner and then the road flattens slightly as it straightens out to the line. Last year we watched from the 100m sign just before the left hand corner. This year I realized that the inside of the right hand corner would be the best position for pictures. The riders would exit the first corner and move to the inside of the right hand corner. We took up our position behind the barricades and listened to announcer Dave Towle calling the action over a PA system.

A breakaway reached the spur first but it did not sound like there were any threats in this group. As the peloton hit the climb most of the breakaway riders were absorbed, except Alexander Moose of BMC. He is a former Phonak team mate of Floyd Landis and stayed out front at the start of the climb.

Speaking of Floyd, he was at the top of the mountain in a black suit. Last year we enjoyed watching Floyd and Tom Danielson battle up this climb. Dave Towle interviewed Floyd over the PA system. They discussed the race and talked about Moose’s climbing ability. And of course they talked about Floyd’s upcoming doping trial. At this point I think it is fairly obvious that the 2007 Tour de France champion has not been given fair treatment in the doping allegations, and I do not have confidence in the test results produced by the French lab.

Back to the action… super climber Tom Danielson had to be a favorite to win the stage this year given that he has won it the past two years. But Discovery Channel’s best placed rider coming into today’s stage was Janez Brojkovic, due to his inclusion in the big breakaway two stages earlier and a good enough time trial. It was necessary for Tom and the rest of the team to ensure that Janez was able to shadow Christian Vandevelde, the nearest competitor to Janez, up the climb. As long as Christian did not gain more than 12 seconds on Janez, Discovery Channel would still be wearing yellow at the end of the stage.

Once it was known that Janez was safely on the climb and hanging strong with CSC’s Vandevelde, Discovery released Levi and Tom to go for a stage win. They hung with another super climber, Gilberto Simoni, waiting for the Saunier Duval rider to make a move. Simoni turned up the screws on a couple of the steeper sections but then Levi turned on the gas.

From Towle’s call of the climb Levi pretty much put the beat down on the rest of the field. We eagerly looked down the mountain at the second to last corner as Levi’s progress was announced. First we saw the Georgia State Police escort vehicle, a couple motorcycles, and then the blue Discovery jersey appeared. Levi powered through the left hand corner and, as I had predicted, cut to the inside of the final corner passing in front of us, the thickness of the barricade away!

After a long pause Tommy D appeared around the corner. He motored past our position and crossed the finish line 38 seconds after Levi. Tom would later say that at the time he was given a green light for the climb Levi already had a better position and he was not able to catch up to Levi. At the podium presentation Levi said “I want to thank Tom for loaning me the stage victory on Brasstown.” Truth be told Levi appeared to have better form than Tom. Keep an eye out for Levi at the Grand Tours, especially with Ivan Basso leaving Discovery.

Levi and Tom were certainly not the whole show. Alexander Moose held on for a sixth place finish and Ryder Hesjedal of Health Net Maxxis secured the King of the Mountains jersey for the rest of the race. He was ahead by more points in the KOM competition than what remained for the following two stages.

Anthony Colby of Colavita had a very strong showing, finishing in third place 22 seconds behind Danielson. Anthony, as well as others, showed that the domestic teams can keep up with the intercontinental teams on the uphill.

It was about 23 minutes from the time Levi crossed the line until the last rider crossed the line. All riders finished which, as I recall, was not the case the last year. The guys at the tail end were suffering as they pulled themselves along and negotiated the final corners.

The podium presentation was better viewed this year with the smaller crowd. After watching the stage winners and jersey winners receive their credits we joined the herd moving down to the parking lot. As we waited in line for the shuttle vans to take us down the mountain, Floyd and his crew passed by on the way to their vehicle.

For more coverage of the time trial stage, here is the Cyclingnews report: Tour de Georgia Stage 5.

By 6pm we were back to our campsite and setting up our kitchen. Pasta with ground turkey and some canned green beans refueled us. After enjoying a campfire we turned in for the night. Tomorrow morning we would drive south to Lake Lanier Islands and watch the start of stage 6, a flat stage for the sprinters.