April 18/07 11:33 am - Tour de Georgia: Stage 3 report, results & photos

Posted by Editoress on 04/18/07
 

Tour de Georgia Georgia USA

Coverage sponsored by: Maxxis

Photos by Jonathan Devich

Report by Amy Smolens

Prerace I was wandering around the parking lot of Darlington School in Rome, Georgia. I caught up with Charles Dionne relaxing by the Colavita/Sutter Home van. Sprinters do everything fast, including leaving after races, so I figured I had better take this opportunity to ask him a few questions:

AS: You zip out so quickly after the stages that I keep missing you - how have you felt so far here at the Tour de Georgia?

CD: "Well, the first stage was kind of hard, that circuit there. Yesterday was better so it was a good day and I think today's gonna be a hard day. We'll see how it goes."

AS: You've been up at the front and yesterday did real well, finishing 7th. How much confidence does it give you for these next three stages, which will be pretty difficult?

CD: "Well, it gives a lot of confidence, I'm really happy, I think it's the best race for me this year and hopefully motivates all the troops, the Colavita guys, put confidence into them, and we build from there. But today there's gonna be a lot of suffering in the mountains and hopefully I can pass all the mountains and be there in the final again."

Well he was sort of right. There was a lot of suffering in the mountains, but the peloton did their suffering slowly. They dragged in 29:07 behind stage winner Gianni Meersman. To the surprise of most observers and prognosticators, the Yellow Jersey changed hands from Tinkoff's Italian Daniele Contrini to Saunier Duval-Prodir's Spaniard David Cañada, and therefore I needed to switch my brain over from Italian to Spanish.

The new leader's name is "Cañada" I decided that was reason enough to post an interview on Canadian Cyclist - let's call it Cañadian Cyclist for today:

AS: When you woke up this morning you were 1:19 behind Daniele Contrini - did you think you'd have the chance to wear the Yellow Jersey today?

DC: "No, when the day began I never even thought of it."

AS: When the attack went out did you think you had a chance to stay away for the whole stage?

DC: "At the beginning I didn't think we'd be fast enough. But later I saw that we were very strong and kept gaining minutes, yes, I thought it would be very easy to stay away."

AS: Tomorrow is the time trial to Lookout Mountain. Do you think that you can hold on to the Yellow Jersey?

DC: "I don't know. When I'm on form, yes. Now I am feeling good but I got the Jersey thanks to the escape. I know that there are racers stronger than I... I think the race will be decided in the time trial tomorrow and above all in the climb (Brasstown Bald) Friday."

AS: Was does it mean to wear the Yellow Jersey in a race like this?

DC: "The Yellow Jersey is very important, very beautiful. It's always makes me happy to wear the Yellow Jersey. In a race like this, like the Tour de France or it means that you are fast and you are a good rider."

AS: What do you think of racing in North America?

DC: "I was here two years ago and it's an experience I'm happy to repeat. I like the race a lot, the roads, the fans, the atmosphere, are very, very good."

AS: I am also doing this interview for a website in Canada - since your name is "Cañada" what do you have to say to the Canadian people?

DC: "In Spanish my name the "n" has a tilde. The meaning of the word "cañada" is the place where animals walk when they go by a river (note: a gully or a cattle/sheep track.) But when I am outside Spain everyone always says "Canada" as if it were the country."

Not long after that compelling and informative interview I saw Victoria's Mike Shea, also known here at the Tour de Georgia as "Comm 1," walking back to his car with Comms 2, 3 and 4, so I figured I'd ask him a few questions:

AS: Talk about what you are doing here at the Tour de Georgia.

MS: "I've been invited by the UCI to be the president, or the chief official of this race. I guess my job here is to make sure the sporting regulations are followed as close as we can and within some reason and discretion of UCI regulations."

AS: So you're the boss of these three people who are walking ahead of you here (Andy McCord, Matt Moses and Dot Abbott?)

MS: "It's a college so we do things as a group, so I guess that doesn't make me their boss but it does make me the manager."

AS: What other international events have you worked at?

MS: "This is my second trip to Georgia, but I've been Chief of the Tour of California, I've been to the Peace Race, Redlands, a lot of races in the U.S., Philadelphia, U.S. Pro, the World Championships, Asian Games, a couple of Commonwealth Games, just to name a few."

AS: What's the toughest regulation you've had to deal with here?

MS: "We've had some driving infractions, but that's been pretty much it. The managers have been behaving themselves - yeah, that's pretty much it."

AS: No one going to the bathroom at the side of the road?

MS: "Well fortunately the riders have been respecting the local custom and finding nice, discreet places to attend to their natural needs."

AS: You weren't Comm 1 at the Tour of California when they made "the Santa Rosa ruling," were you?

MS: "Fortunately I was at home in Victoria."

AS: Is there a challenge with a stage like Brasstown Bald, a complicated stage with small roads?

MS: "Certainly any time we have a narrow road and a lot of climbing it definitely gets difficult when they all spread out. Fortunately today the peloton pretty much worked as a single unit, they were very easy to officiate today."

AS: As the quality of the riders gets higher with ProTour racers over here does that make your job in some ways easier?

MS: "Yeah, because we don't lose the riders for the little things. The sprinters can climb pretty well, it's not until they really put the gas on that it makes that much difference. We are seeing an uplifting of the level of all riders."