Tour of Georgia Wrap-Up: 

By the time I finally got back to posting, the Tour of Georgia (I refuse to call it the Tour de Georgia) was mostly over. Cycling News and VeloNews both had good coverage of all of the action. Kanstantsin Siutsou (Sivtsov? I’ve seen both) of Team High Road took the overall win, with Trent Lowe (Slipstream-Chipotle) and Levi Leipheimer (Astana) rounding out the podium. Lowe also won the best young rider classification.

Whether it speaks to weakness in American racing or that the race is a true international contest, there were only 5 US riders in the Top 20. It should be said that US-based teams took 3rd (Team Type 1), 4th (High Road) and 5th (Slipstream-Chipotle). Also, American  Jason McCartney (CSC) took the K.O.M.  and Tyler Farrar of Slipstream-Chipotle took second in the overall points.

Late entrant Rock Racing had one rider in the Top 10 (Spaniard Oscar Sevilla). From looking over the results, it seems that they had some strong performances, but couldn’t pull it together to capture better results. Guess that they’d better hire a DS.

Liege-Bastone-Liege:

The final spring classic of the year is becoming Alejandro Valverde’s (Caisse de Epargne) favorite. He won the race in 2006 and narrowly missed a win last year. This year, he made a bold move in the final 200 meters to sweep by escape compatriots Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) and Fränk Schleck (Team CSC). Valverde was a true sportsman, saying that Schleck was “the strongest man in the race.” Valverde now has his sights set on the Tour de France and the Olympic road race.

Racing News:

• Team High Road has confirmed that they will not ride in the Vuelta. They were not able to receive a commited answer from the organizer, and will instead focus their efforts on the Tour of Britain, the Tour of Ireland and the Tour of Missouri.
• One day after signing controversial rider Ivan Basso, the Liquigas team has announced that they are dropping out of the AIGCP (the International Association of Professional Cycling Teams) due to a disagreement over future direction as well as restrictions related to when I rider (read Basso) can be signed. Membership is not compulsory to complete in the Pro Tour.
• On Friday, we reported that Jörg Jaksche was still looking for a team to join when his current suspension ends on June 30th. We now see that he has given up his fight after being turned down by Milram.
• Alexander Vinokourov will not be returning to Astana when his one-year suspension ends in July. There were reports that he had been in training with the hopes of riding in the Olympic road race. This supports Johan Bruyneel’s assertion that Astana is an all-new team with a new direction.

Upcoming Races:

• Tour de Romandie (Switzerland): April 29th to May 4th
• Subida al Naranco (Spain): May 1st
• Rund um den Henninger turm Frankfurt (Germany): May 1st
• GLS Express Grand Prix (Denmark): May 3rd
• Tour of Asturias (Spain): May 3rd to May 7th
• Tour de Berne (Switzerland): May 4th
• Trophee des Grimpeurs (France): May 4th
• Giro di Toscana (Italy): May 4th
• Colliers Classic (Denmark): May 4th