Levi Leipheimer
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Will another American win the 2007 Tour de Georgia bicycle race, set to start on Monday?
The US cyclist with perhaps the most to prove in the peloton is Tyler Hamilton, competing for the first time on US soil since undergoing a two-year ban for blood doping. The 36-year-old cyclist, busted during the Vuelta a Espana bike race in 2004, is leading the newly created Italy-based Tinkoff team.
Then there's Tom Danielson, who is leading the Discovery Channel team and looking to repeat his winning Tour de Georgia performance of 2005. Joining him is teammate Levi Leipheimer, who would probably like to prove that winning the Amgen Tour of California in February was no fluke. Discovery is also bringing George Hincapie, who broke his wrist in that California tour.
The US is heavily represented on the team rosters of the week-long bike race across 667 miles of Georgia and southern Tennessee, not only on the major pro cycling teams but the domestic teams that are competing as well.
Although the Tour de Georgia — April 16-22 — is sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale with a 2.0 Hors Classe rating, it competes for top riders with spring classics in Europe, notably the Paris-Roubaix scheduled on Sunday.
Discovery Channel arrives with the top world ranking on the UCI Pro Tour Team standings.
In addition to Danielson, Leipheimer, and Hincapie, Discovery boasts Jason McCartney (did not start due to illness) and Jose Luis Rubiera among its 8-man roster. Italian Ivan Basso, a favorite for the Tour de France this year, won't be competing, however.
Popular sprinter Freddie Rodriguez will be leading the Predictor-Lotto squad, but American teammate and previous Tour de Georgia winner Chris Horner won't be participating.
Time trial specialist David Zabriskie is leading Team CSC at the Tour. Zabriskie finished sixth last year to Phonak's Floyd Landis. Since then he's won the USA Time Trial Championships and finished second in the World Time Trial Championships. He'll be joined by Christian Vandevelde, but fellow American Bobby Julich isn't competing.
Some other big names competing in the Tour include Italian cyclist Leonardo Scarselli for QuickStep and Italy's Gilberto Simoni and Scotsman David Millar for Prodir Saunier Duval.
The pro continental teams that are competing are heavily laced with US riders. HealthNet and Navigators always do well, and Team Slipstream is showing its power this year.
Other teams with a chance to put an American on the podium include Toyota-United, Jittery Joes, Priority Health, Colavita/Sutter Home, BMC, and the USA Cycling National Development Team.
To see the full roster for each team, go to the Tour de Georgia “teams” website and choose a team in the pull down selection box at the top of the page.
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