Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team 2007

Lookout Mountain, Ga. – With Thursday’s individual time trial further shuffling the overall standings, the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team enters the pivotal fifth stage of the Tour de Georgia with two riders in the top 35 overall and all eight members of its team still in the race.

Chris Baldwin’s 22nd place in the time trial moved him from 70th place to 30th place in the overall standings. Baldwin said the course was extremely technical, in addition to featuring a significant amount of climbing.

“It is really hard to find a rhythm on a course like that. Not just with the tight corners, but also with the undulations and the rolling hills. Your tempo is always changing.”

Justin England also made a significant climb up the general classification. His 27th place in the 18.9-mile (30.4 km) time trial moved him from 69th to 34th overall.

“There were lots of tons of hairpin turns and you constantly had to look up,” England said. “You couldn’t put your head down and go. It makes for an interesting time trial. I probably went about 95 percent today. I didn’t want to put myself in a hole for tomorrow, but it’s always good to go hard and open up the legs.”

Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel Pro Cycling) won the time trial in 44:51 while his teammate, Janez Brajkovic moved into the overall race lead by 12 seconds over Christian Vande Velde (CSC).

Friday’s 107-mile (172.1 km) race from Dalton to Brasstown Bald Mountain is expected to sort out the general classification even further, thanks to the challenging profile of the course. A Category 2 climb to Fort Mountain is followed by the ascent through Wolfpen Gap leading to the higher-than-category Brasstown Bald climb to the finish line.

Baldwin said he will tackle the Brasstown Bald climb at his own pace.

“It’s very, very long and very hard and it gets harder at the top,” he said. “So for a guy like me – who is a bigger guy and not one of the most talented climbers - it’s better to go into it within yourself than try to go up to your limit at the bottom. Last year, I just rode my own pace at the bottom and stayed with David Zabriskie and ended up doing a pretty good time.”