119 riders contested the race which was held in sunny mild conditions on a
mostly flat circuit. Ivan Stevic from Toyota-United was in an early breakaway of six riders that never gained more than a
minute advantage over the field for most of the race. “With 8 kilometers to go, the Pro Tour teams formed an alliance
and drove hard to catch the leaders. Our guys were waiting in the wings to spring Dominguez to the finish if Stevic’s
group was caught” said Len Pettyjohn Team Director for Toyota-United.
With 1000 meters to go, Henk
Vogels the team captain of Toyota-United led the charge with Dominique Rollin, Ivan Dominguez and Hilton Clarke on his wheel
to set up the sprint for Dominguez. “Henk put us in a perfect position and took me to 500 meters where I let loose with
everything I had to deliver Ivan as close to the finish as possible before he blew past me with 200 meters to go and easily
won.” said teammate Dominique Rollin.
“With 50 meters to
go, I looked under my arm and saw I had the same gap as when I passed everyone earlier and realized then I was the fastest
and no one was going to pass me.” said Dominguez after the race.
Due to the time bonus for
wining the stage, Dominguez moved into the coveted Yellow Jersey which signifies he has the lowest overall time of all the
participants and leads second place Nicholas Sanderson of Australia (Jelly Belly Pro Cycling Team) by four seconds.
Today's 115.7 mile Stage
2 will begin at 11AM EST from the city of Statesboro and finish in Augusta, the site of the Masters Golf Tournament. Dominguez
will look to keep his yellow jersey another day as the race will be difficult for the sprinters with the fist official climb
of the week in North Augusta.
The win at today’s
Tour de Georgia adds to the legacy of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team as the team remains the only team in the world to
win a stage in all three “Grand Tours” in America the past three seasons with a total of nine stage wins.
