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Popovych steals Stage 2 at Tour de Georgia

By Jason Sumner, Special to VeloNews
Published: Apr. 19, 2006
Popovych gets the win
Popovych gets the win
Photo: Casey B. Gibson

Yaroslav Popovych sure knows how to impress the boss. With Discovery Channel’s Lance Armstrong looking on for the first time here in Georgia, the rising star from the Ukraine made a late-race escape to win Stage 2 of the 2006 Ford Tour de Georgia on Wednesday.

Popovych made his winning move on the last of four climbs up steep Clocktower Hill, then held his small gap to the line, besting Juan Jose Haedo (Toyota-United) and Fred Rodriguez (Davitamon-Lotto) in the 116.1-mile stage from Fayetteville to Rome. Popovych finished in 4:47:39, six seconds ahead of Haedo, Rodriguez, Karl Menzies (Health Net-Maxxis) and Caleb Manion (Jelly Belly).

The rest of the field trickled across the finish in groups of five and six, with all but the final 11 finishers losing no more than a minute.

"It wasn’t really the original plan, but as we were moving along I felt that I could do what I did, so I talked to the teammates and said I was going to go and they said, ‘Go for it,’" said Popovych, the best young rider at last year’s Tour de France. "When we did the first lap [of the finishing circuit] I felt really good and I felt like I could go for it."

The win and accompanying time bonus gave Popovych a four-second GC lead over Rodriguez, meaning the Ukrainian will draw the coveted last spot in Thursday’s all-important time trial from Chickamauga to Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Stage 1 winner Lars Michaelsen (CSC) was 44th at 0:16 on stage 2, and fell to fifth in the GC.

Wednesday’s stage win continued Discovery Channel’s recent dominance of this six-day race. Since 2004, the team has won four stages and the last two overall crowns.

He who hesitates is lost
He who hesitates is lost
Photo: Casey B. Gibson

With Popo’ confident of his chances, Discovery moved its forces to the front of the field halfway through the last of three 2.55-mile circuits around downtown Rome. From there America’s top team ramped up the speed, leading Popovych to the base of the Clocktower climb. The 26-year-old took care of the rest, punching it hard up the short, steep hill to quickly open a 100-meter gap on the hard-charging field.

Behind Popovych the chasers hesitated for just a moment, trying to sort out who would lead the pursuit. That moment of indecision was costly, and by the time they’d sorted it out it was too late.

"In the last kilometer it was really, really fast," said runner-up Haedo. "I knew I had to be in a good position going up the hill. That would help me hold on. Coming into the last lap Discovery took over and they set up Popovych to attack in the last climb. He was two or three guys in front of me. I saw everything. Then we kind of looked at each other to see who was going to chase, and of course no one wanted to work for anybody."

Rodriguez was the first to give chase up the hill, but he still wasn’t totally committed and his effort wasn’t enough to bring the Discovery rider back.

"Discovery did a great job," said Rodriguez, who leads the points competition. "They came around the right corner heading into the hill and really cranked it up. They cranked it up for basically the last 3k. That broke it apart, and right as we hit the real wall in the last kilometer [Popovych] jumped away. [Haedo] let the gap open up. I closed most of it over the top but I made a tactical error. I had the legs but I thought, ‘Let’s see if somebody else could bring it back.’ But then I looked back and realized the other guys were pretty dead. Then I reaccelerated and tried to close the gap on the downhill, but I still wasn’t giving it everything I had, knowing that I still had to do a sprint. Then we were just racing for second at that point."

An early break
Prior to Popovych’s heroics the day belonged to little-known Argentine Alejandro Acton (Target Training), who spent nearly 100 miles on a solo break before finally being reeled in with just nine miles to go. Besides the loneliness, Acton had to endure a wicked squall that dumped rain on the entire race and had organizers calling for all caravan cars to turn on their lights and blinkers.

Stage 1 saw numerous early breaks shut down, but Acton was unchallenged when he took off at the 10.5-mile mark, barely raising an eyebrow back in the peloton. Soon after, Viktor Rapinski (Colavita-Sutter Home Wines) tried to bridge across, but the Belarusian was quickly reeled back in, leaving Acton to go it alone.

"I am a little tired," admitted the Spanish-speaking Acton through a translator. "I’ve been training very hard. I think I will pay the price tomorrow but I felt good today. I am happy with my achievement. My manager told me to take it easy today. But when I had two minutes at the first sprint point I felt good and thought, ‘Maybe I’ll keep this going.’ At the second sprint point I still felt good so I just kept going and the gap stayed the same."

Once Acton was caught, it was time to sort out the race’s first King of the Mountain climb, the category-4 Clocktower ascent. There it was Health Net’s Kirk O’Bee going first over the top.

"It just kind of happened," said O’Bee. "Everyone was at the front just trying to keep everyone together. Then the opportunity was there and we took it. I’ve got no plan to keep it. We’ll be working for Nathan [O’Neill] in the mountains."

Up next is stage 3, the individual time trial, a 24.8-mile run from Chickamauga to Chattanooga. Riders will depart in reverse order of the general classification in one-minute intervals except for the final 10, who will go in two-minute intervals.

"Tomorrow and the following days are very tough," said the race leader. "We have a strong team, so we aren’t worried too much about who is the leader right now."

Full results posted

To see how the stage unfolded, just click here to open our live update window.

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General Notes:
1. There is a correction to the results of Stage 1. Rider 25 GUTTIEREZ CATALUNA, Jose Enrique, Team Phonak Hearing Systems was involved in the crash in the final 3 kilometers of Stage 1 and is credited with the same time as the main field.
2. Rider 82, BLACKGROVE, Heath, Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team is fined Chf 50 and penalized 20 seconds for sheltering behind a vehicle for an extended period of time. Regulation 12.1.040.19.2.2.
3. Rider 7 MCCARTNEY, Jason, Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team is fined Chf 50 for non-regulation breakdown assistance. Team Director BRUYNEEL, Johan, Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team is fined Chf 200 for non regulation assistance. Regulation 12.1.040.20.2.
4. Rider 27 STALDER, Florian, Phonak Hearing Systems is fined Chf 200 and forfeiture of prizes for failing to attend the official ceremony for Best Young Rider. Regulation 12.1.040.36.
5. Rider 16 PEDERSON, Martin, Team CSC is fined Chf 100 for covered numbers. Regulation 12.1.040.5.
6. Rider 18 VANDBORG, Brian is Team CSC is fined Chf 100 for covered numbers. Regulation 12.1.040.5.
7. Team Director BRUYNEEL, Johan, Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team is fined Chf 200 for breach of regulations of vehicle movement during the race. The second team car is not allowed within the front caravan except to replace the first car that has either stopped or advanced to riders off the front..
8. The following teams are warned for wearing articles of clothing not conforming to regulation 1.3.029. This states that riders must wear rain capes or vests that are transparent or look like the team’s jersey: Team CSC; Prodir-Saunier Duval; Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team; Phonak Hearing Systems.

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