Fifth stage of 2005 Tour de Georgia to start in Gainesville

ATLANTA - Gainesville will be the starting point for the fifth stage of this year's Tour de Georgia.

The bike race, which will cover several hundred miles in north and central Georgia, is scheduled to begin April 19 in Augusta.

The fifth leg begins Gainesville April 23 and will end later that day at Brasstown Bald.

Tour de Georgia officials announced plans for this year's race Wednesday at a news conference in Atlanta.

Stan Holm, executive director of Tour de Georgia, had said in a speech to the Gainesville Rotary Club earlier this year that Gainesville would likely again be a part of the race this year.

Here are the plans for this year's race, as outlined on the Tour de Georgia Web site:

"The 2005 Dodge Tour de Georgia begins on Tuesday, April 19, with all of its pageantry in historic downtown Augusta, along the banks of the Savannah River. Stage One will challenge The Masters of cycling as they traverse 120 miles across Middle Georgia to its finishing circuit in the Song and Soul of the South, Macon. It will be an ideal day for the sprinters to make a lasting first impression as they race to the city that musical legends Otis Redding, the Allman Brothers, James Brown and Little Richard have all called home. Macon has hosted stages in both 2003 and 2004, while Augusta was a host city in 2003.

Stage Two will test the sprinters once again, as the race continues along its clockwise course in charming Fayetteville, one of the two new host cities. Turning northwest for a 120-mile battle, riders will sample a challenging mix of Georgia's diverse terrain along the way to the finish line in Rome, nestled on a peninsula between the Etowah, Oostanaula, and Coosa rivers.

Stage Three, on Thurs. April 21 in Rome, brings with it a difficult 18-mile Individual Time Trial from this "City on Seven Hills."

The first of two mountain stages, Stage Four, begins in Dalton, among the lush green Appalachian Mountains, where riders will begin a steady climb up toward the ominous North Georgia Mountains lurking in the east. Dalton has hosted a stage start since the tour's inception in 2003. Before finishing 130 miles later in the gold rush mountain village of Dahlonega, the riders will have crossed five mountain passes, including the famed Three Gaps.

Stage Five on Saturday, April 23, 2005, will once again present one of the greatest days in North American stage racing when the Tour charges from the shores of Lake Lanier and the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Gainesville and heads north, deeper into the mountains to its finish high atop Brasstown Bald (Towns Co.). Voted the best day of racing in 2004 by VeloNews Magazine, this 115-mile stage will separate the pack after a grueling day in the saddle and four mountain passes including the fabled Unicoi Gap and the legendary Hogpen Gap, where the winds howl and the asphalt melts. After careening down Hogpen Gap at speeds in excess of 65 miles an hour, teams will work hard to deliver their best climber to the base of Brasstown Bald Mountain. While considered a short climb of only 3.5 miles, intense pitch changes of up to 21 percent and wicked switchbacks ensure a maximum effort and an exhilarating finish atop Georgia's highest peak.

After 530 miles of racing, the sixth and final stage begins along the northeast border of Georgia in idyllic Blairsville, a town of 700 and the other new addition to the Tour. Blairsville will serve as the northeast turning point, and from there, the route heads south into Metro Atlanta for a tough finishing circuit finale in Alpharetta after which a new race champion will don the Dodge Tour de Georgia winner's jersey."