Fayetteville - Rome, 197.5km
Today the Tour de Georgia field tackles a relatively-flat stage with rolling hills (See stage map & profile), but the entry into the city of Rome could cause a split in the field, with three circuits involving a climb up the short but steep Clock Tower Hill.
Last year, Andrea Tafi put in a brave solo attack in his final US race, but was caught entering the circuits by a fast charging peloton, led by the entire Discovery Channel team, with Lance Armstrong in tow.
In fact, Armstrong was the surprise winner of the stage into Rome in the 2004 edition (stage 3), something he described as a "almost a freak experience" (not winning a race, but beating the sprinters at their own game).
Tafi was swallowed by the Discovery train, and in turn, the paler-shade-of-blue-train - Gerolsteiner - set up their sprinter, Peter Wrolich, who stole the show and took the win.
The finish is likely to be a bunch kick of 'sprinters-who-can-climb', or an opportunist rider with the explosive power to tackle the climb may be able to hold off what will be a hard-charging bunch, assuming the somewhat-inevitable breakaway group is caught.
Live coverage
Make sure you follow all the action, live on Cyclingnews, from 13:30 local time (EDT), 10:30 PDT (USA West) 19:30 CEST (Europe), 03:30 AEST (Australia East). In yesterday's stage we experienced unexpected demand, so we apologise for any delays you experienced, but for the remaining stages, the servers are scaled up and ready to rumble.
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