US cycling fans should be pleased to hear that the world's top ProTour cyclist — Floyd Landis, left, of the Swiss Phonak team — is competing in the Tour of Georgia bicycle race that begins in a couple of weeks.
Other big name US bike racers include last year's winner, Tom Danielson of Discovery Channel, and David Zabriskie, a member of Danish Team CSC and holder of the yellow jersey for four days in the 2005 Tour de France.
Landis, a Pennsylvania native who lives in Southern California, won the inaugural Tour of California in February and Paris-Nice in March. Both are week-long stage races. The fourth annual Ford Tour of Georgia is another stage race, covering 606 miles in six days, beginning April 18.
A former domestique on Lance Armstrong's US Postal Service team, Landis finished in 9th place overall in the 2005 Tour de France and has designs on winning the event this year. He decided not to race the upcoming three-week Giro d'Italia in May to help concentrate on the Tour in July.
Last year's Tour of Georgia winner, Danielson, will be back. He has said that his goal this year is to win the Giro d'Italia. Another American in the Georgia tour, Zabriskie, parlayed his time-trialing abilities to grab the yellow jersey in the opening stage of the 2005 Tour de France and hold onto it until he crashed at the end of Stage 4.
Other Americans on ProTour racing teams at Tour of Georgia include Jason McCartney (Discovery), Guido Trenti (QuickStep), Fred Rodriguez (Davitamon), and Aaron Olson (Prodir). Many Americans also ride for the nine domestic teams competing this year.
The international cycling stars include Australian sprinter Robbie McEwen of Davitamon-Lotto, as well as two members of the Discovery Channel team — Yaroslav Popovych, the “best young rider” in the 2005 Tour de France and Viatcheslav Ekimov, a veteran of 14 Tours de France.
Missing from the lineup are the two top contenders for this year's Tour de France, Jan Ullrich of T-Mobile (which didn't even send its team) and Ivan Basso of Team CSC. Also missing will be US riders George Hincapie from Discovery Channel, Levi Leipheimer of Gerolsteiner, Bobby Julich, Team CSC, and Chris Horner (Davitamon-Lotto), the winner of the first Tour of Georgia.
I suppose many of these riders might be laying back as the grueling, three-week Giro d'Italia runs in May and Basso and Ullrich have definitely announced their intentions to ride that race. Some of the others, such as Hincapie, are riding in this week's Tour of Flanders.
See the Ford Tour of Georgia website for teams, host cities, the route, and more.
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