Toyota-United’s Ivan Dominguez Remains in Leaders Yellow Jersey after Stage 2 of the Tour de Georgia Presented by AT & T

By editor on April 23rd, 2008

Dominguez sprints to 3rd place finish claiming four-second time bonus to retain yellow jersey and picks up the lead in the Sprint Competition
Toyota-United continues to lead the team competition

Los Angeles, CA – Ivan Dominguez of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team held on to the leaders yellow jersey at the conclusion of today’s Stage 2 in the Tour de Georgia Presented by AT & T. Dominguez finished the stage in 3rd place behind stage winner and former Toyota-United alumni JJ Haedo (Team CSC) and Greg Henderson (Team High Road).

TOUR DE GEORGIA STAGE 2 PODIUM

In what was a long 116.9 mile mostly flat stage, Toyota-United rider Justin England went on the offensive at mile 48 and quickly gained a 3-minute advantage on the main field. “His purpose was to take away the three seconds on offer at the sprint time bonus line at mile marker 57 to avoid having 2nd place overall Nicholas Sanderson (Jelly Belly) surpass Dominguez in the overall classification” said Len Pettyjohn, Team Director for Toyota-United.

“Our Directors told us at last nights meeting to make sure we are in all the early moves to protect Ivan’s yellow jersey. I was in a breakaway dangling off the front with Dominique Rollin and a few others and when I took my pull, I went a little harder than usual and the guy behind me let a gap open and the next thing I knew, I had 5 seconds, 10 seconds, a minute and I was gone” said Justin England. “Once I had four minutes on the peloton my Directors came up to me in the Prius and told me that there were two riders coming across to me, so I soft pedaled and was able to drink a full bottle and recuperate a little until they arrived, and then we drilled it until we were caught near the finish” England continued.

“The team executed our plan to perfection today and I was really hoping to win the stage in yellow, but the other guys were just faster today and passed me at the end.” Dominguez continued “But I am happy to keep the yellow jersey which was the team’s main goal for the day.”

In addition, Dominguez now leads the Sprint Competition with 25 points over second place Greg Henderson who has 23 points. Toyota-United also leads the Team Classification category over Team High Road and thirteen other teams.
Tomorrow’s stage 3 is a rolling course totaling 108.2 miles from Washington to Gainesville beginning at 11AM EST.

IVAN DOMINGUEZ IN YELLOW AFTER STAGE 2
Ivan Doniguez of Toyota United in Yellow after Stage 2 at Tour de Georgia
Photos courtesy of Action Images