Brajkovic finishes as overall winner
By JARED PUTNAM Union Sentinel Editor

Slovenian Janez Brajkovic held on to win the 2007 Tour de Georgia, overcoming a flat tire late in the race with the help of his Discovery Channel t e a m m a t e s . Brajkovic said they all were instrumental in his win.

"Yesterday and today they did an amazing job protecting me," Brajkovic said after the race was over. "Yesterday for the first hour and half there were so many attacks and when I saw them sacrificing themselves for me it was an amazing thing."

The victory is a major accomplishment for Brajkovic,

who is a mere 23- years-old, and was originally expected to miss the race due to illness. He finished with an overall time of 25 hours,

26 minutes, and 33

seconds.

"[This is the] biggest win of my career so far. I wasn't even planning to be here, so it's really an amazing victory. To win this race by myself would be impossible, but with the team we had here, they were just amazing and they did a lot of work the past few days."

Vande Velde came in second overall, the only competitor to even finish within 3 minutes of Brajkovic.

The Stage 5 jersey winners.