DAHLONEGA, Georgia, 24 April 2005 — Lance Armstrong could well be left behind in the first event of his farewell tour, as fellow American Floyd Landis kept a 19-second lead over David Zabriskie here Friday at the Tour de Georgia.
Denmark’s Brian Vandborg of Team CSC won the mountainous fifth stage in a driving rain in 5 hrs, 33 mins, 2 secs with Russia’s Viatcheslav Ekimov of Discovery second in the same time.
Landis, Armstrong and others were in the pack eight seconds behind as riders prepared for sixtgh stage, also a run over the mountains.
Armstrong, a six-time Tour de France winner who announced his retirement after this year’s French race on the eve of this event, was eighth overall in 16:49:11, 1:42 seconds off the pace set by Landis of the Swiss team Phonak.
Discovery’s Armstrong was seventh in the fourth of six stages, a 197.5km trek here from Dalton in treacherous conditions.
“At one point it was difficult to see where we were going, even in the front of the group,” Landis said. “The roads were fairly safe. It was just raining so hard we couldn’t really see.” That left Vandborg to focus on Armstrong and his Discovery teammates.
“We were focusing a lot on Discovery Team,” Vandborg said. “We tried to cover the breaks. Whenever they went, we went. We were trying to be aggressive but still a little bit defensive.”
The fifth stage, 180 km along the tallest peaks in Georgia, is the penultimate stage in the premier US event, an early tune-up for July’s Tour de France. The stage features the toughest climb, up Brasstown Bald.
“I’ve heard from other people that it’s quite difficult,” Landis said.
