Tour de Georgia comes to Union Saturday
By Becky Landress Sentinel Writer

The 2008 Tour de Georgia is in it's 6th season, presented by AT&T, started Monday in Tybee Island with 119 riders at 10:30 a.m. On Saturday, Stage 6 will start in Blairsville at 11 a.m. and run through Young Harris and Hiawassee to the top of Brasstown Bald, finishing up between 2:15p.m. and 3:10p.m. The map for the Blairsville/ Towns County Course shows the race running straight down Hwy. 76.

Santiago Botero (COL), Rock Racing Cycling Team stated about Brasstown Bald "No, no I don't know the stage, but everybody told me about it. It's steep, steep. I heard it's very hard. It's hard."

The Tour de Georgia presented by AT&T is North America's premier, professional cycling event and rolling festival of community activities. The Tour was first held in 2003 and has become a spring tradition with a varying route of over 600 miles of racing. Over 2.8 million spectators have traveled to Georgia to watch the event in the past five years, and direct economic impact has totaled over $148 million. The event is sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale (2.HC ranking), and is part of the USA Cycling Professional Tour USA Cycling, Inc., making the event one of the top stage races for elite athletes around the world. Route maps, host venue information, merchandise offerings and sponsor news are available at the official website, www.tourdegeorgia.com.