Tour de Georgia cancelled for '09

The state's top cycling event will not be held in 2009, but plans a return for 2010. The Tour de Georgia made the announcement on its website.

Longtime member of the organization, Tom Saddlemire, spoke on behalf of the Tour's Board of Directors.

"We believe this unique and exciting event willl endure. We've decided to use 2009 as a time to plan ahead and properly position the Tour de Georgia to make best use of new partnerships we forged in 2008."

Chairman of the Tour's Board, Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle, had these comments.

"This is a decision I feel is wise and one that will strengthen the Tour for years to come".

The 7-day-long Tour de Georgia bills itself as North America’s premier professional cycling event. But it's struggled financially as it could not find a title sponsor the last two years.

Support in the Tour de Georgia declined following Lance Armstrong’s retirement. The announcement to cancel the race came despite Armstrong’s recent comeback, including tenative plans to return to the Georgia event.

Tour hits Rome

The Tour de Georgia spun into Rome Tuesday.

After three laps of downtown, including multiple climbs up steep Clocktower Hill, Serbian cyclist Ivan Stevic narrowly won Stage Two of the race.

The race left Thomaston in the morning. Cyclists traveled 135 miles over moderate terrain to Rome, from which they will ride to Chattanooga on Wednesday.

Although Stevic, a member of the Toyota-United team, won Stage Two, Italian cyclist Daniele Contrini of the Tinkoff Credit Systems team remained the overall leader.

Stevic is now in fourth place.

Tour de Georgia underway

Day-1 of the Tour de Georgia is today. Cyclists will start in Peachtree City, and ride to Macon, covering about 97 miles. Start time is 1pm.

The event just recently got a big infusion of money from A-T-and-T to keep it going for this year. The race has been expanded to 7 days, covering 667 miles.