CSC's Michaelson grabs stage 1 Leaders Jersey

Above: Riders battle for position during the 2005 tour.

Lars Michaelson (Denmark) of Team CSC, the No. 1-ranked ProTour team this spring, captured the Ford Leader Jersey in a sprint in d o w n t o w n Macon for Stage One of the 2006 Ford Tour de G e o r g i a . American Fred Rodriguez of the Belgian team D a v i t a m o n Lotto and Australian Caleb Manion of the domestic Jelly Belly Cycling team finished second and third, respectively.

"The circuit turned out to be quite good for me. I only saw the race book this morning and had no idea how it was. I was talking to (Mark) M c C o r m a c k (competitor on the American team Colavita-Sutter Home) and he said 'this is just you Lars, good hills and with cobblestones.' And it

was. It was a fast

circuit," said Michaelson after winning the longest stage of the week, covering 129.8 miles/ 207.4 km.