Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team 2007

The photo finish camera was needed to judge the winner of Stage 6.
Stone Mountain, Ga. - Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team's Ivan Dominguez scored his second fifth place finish of this year’s Tour de Georgia Saturday as speeds reached nearly 48 mph in the sprint on the downhill straightaway of Old Hugh Howell Road in Stone Mountain Park.

American Fred Rodriguez (Predictor-Lotto) won the 113-mile (192.9 km) race in a time of four hours and four minutes. Juan José Haedo (CSC) finished second and George Hincapie (Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team) was third.

Dominguez was fortunate to contest the final sprint considering he endured a host of mechanical difficulties right from the start of the race in Lake Lanier Islands. Toyota-United Team Mechanic Myke Berna said Dominguez broke his chain approaching the first Maxxis sprint, just 2.9 miles into the race.

Dominguez switched bikes from his primary Aloha CF1 (red) Fuji bike to his (blue) Fuji Carbon C7 frame. At the feed zone at the 45-mile mark (73 km), Berna replaced the chain on the primary bike and Dominguez switched bikes again.

“Shortly after he started riding that one, Ivan said something was rubbing,” Berna said. “We looked at it and the derailleur was bent, probably from the chain snapping. We tried to straighten it, but we ended up changing his bike again.”

Dominguez switched from his primary bike again and Berna discovered the derailleur cage was broken. He replaced it and Dominguez made his final bike change of the day.

“Those things happen,” Dominguez said. “It didn’t affect me at all at the end. Our mechanic and the whole Toyota-United team did a great job of getting me back to the front every time.”

Not only did the team tend to Dominguez, but Toyota-United spent nearly 50 miles (80 km) of the stage sharing the workload with CSC to reel in a three-man breakaway that at one point had a six-minute lead. The hard chase took its toll, with only half of Toyota-United’s eight riders finishing in the lead group of 96 riders.

Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said with Predictor-Lotto’s Olivier Kaisen in the breakaway, Rodriguez’s team enjoyed the luxury of not having to chase.

“It’s difficult to control the end with only two teams – Toyota-United and CSC – racing for the bunch sprint,” Jansen said.

After the break was caught inside the final three miles (5 km), Ivan Stevic covered a final attack inside the final kilometer to ensure the race would finish in a bunch sprint. Unfortunately, Dominguez entered the final kilometer sitting in about 20th position, he said.

“I just didn’t win,” he said. “Tomorrow’s another day.”

Jansen said in the end, the race came down to a timing issue.

“Ivan said – in hindsight – that wished he would have had time to sprint,” Jansen said. “He felt great. He loved the finishing circuit. It just didn’t result in a win.”

The final stage of the fifth edition of the Tour de Georgia will be run on the downtown streets of Atlanta Sunday, beginning at 1 p.m. The 66.8-mile (107.5 km) stage features nine circuits of 7.4 miles (11.9 km) each. There are three time bonus sprints (on laps three, five and seven) and time bonuses on the line of 10, six and four seconds

Labels: Harm Jansen, Ivan Dominguez