TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife Strong at Tour of Atlanta

The TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife squad had a strong showing at the inaugural Tour of Atlanta, a five-day, seven-stage race in and around Atlanta, Georgia.

The stage race is a part of the Georgia Cup Series of events (www.georgiacup.com) and boasted heavy hitters from top US Professional squads in HealthNet, DLP Racing, and Jittery Joe's, as well as regional squads from South Florida, South Carolina, and Georgia. A strong TOSHIBA squad, Frank Travieso, Yosvany Falcon, Bobby Sweeting, Predrag Prokic, John Fredy Parra, Carlos Alzate, and Joe Fernandez, looked to build its racing form as final preparation as it looked forward to the next month's heavy schedule of racing in USA CRITS stop #2 at Tulsa Tough, CSC Invitational, Commerce Bank Series known as "Philly Week," USA CRITS #3 Harlem Skyscraper Classic, and USA CRITS #4 AT&T Downtown Austin Criterium.

Stage 1 - Individual Time Trial, 7 miles, Buford, Georgia
With the first stage in the Tour of Atlanta an individual time trial, valuable seconds would be contested on the busy streets of Downtown Buford this Memorial day weekend. An out and back course saw five of the top 10 spots gobbled up by TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife riders.

1. John Murphy, HealthNet presented by Maxxis, 13:31.7
2. Chris Butler, Hincapie Barkley, 13:58.6
3. Frank Travieso, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, 14:02.7
6. Bobby Sweeting, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, 14:13.0
7. Carlos Alzate, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, 14:16.08
8. Yosvany Falcon, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, 14:21.6
9. Predrag Prokic, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, 14:23.9

Stage 2 - Sprints "Under the Lights," Buford, Georgia
With heavy weight on the sprint finish bonus seconds (1st round, :10, :07, :05; 2nd round, :15, :10, 05; 3rd round, :30, :20, :10), every finish counted. In round 1 Travieso, Sweeting, Falcon, and Alzate all advanced to the semi-final round. In the finals round, it was Sweeting, Alzate, and Falcon representing TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife.

1. John Murphy, HealthNet presented by Maxxis, :55 bonus
2. Carlos Alzate, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, :45 bonus
3. Leonardo Martinez, Blue Star, :25 bonus

GC after Stage 2
1. John Murphy, HealthNet presented by Maxxis, 12:37.00
2. Carlos Alzate, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, 13:31.00
3. Bobby Sweeting, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, 13:51.00
4. Frank Travieso, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, 13:56.00
6. Yosvany Falcon, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, 14:02.00
10. Predrag Prokic, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, 14:24.00

Stage 3 - Circuit, 1 Hour, Johns Creek, Georgia
The heat was on after the first two stages to make up time on a strong Murphy. Halfway through the race, Parra went away by himself and put panic in the charging field. With approximately 10 laps to go it was all back together for a bunch gallop to the line. This would be the first true test for Travieso after injuring his wrist at the Athens Twilight. The red train went to the front with 3 left to go and the rest was up to Alzate and his leadout man, Travieso. Not being able to come around Travieso, Frank ended up winning the 3rd stage of the Tour of Atlanta and valuable finish seconds to slowly chip away at Murphy's margin.

1. Frank Travieso, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife
2. John Murphy, HealthNet presented by Maxxis
3. Yosvany Falcon, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife
4. Carlos Alzate, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife
8. Bobby Sweeting, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife

Stage 4 - Team Time Trial, 10 miles, Monroe, Georgia
Being a team time trial, this was a perfect stage for the boys in red to perfect their time trialing form and make up lost time on Murphy's one minute lead. The team did not disappoint, winning by a commanding :43 seconds, placing Travieso 17 seconds back from Murphy going into the second stage of the day.

1. TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, 25:41
2. Composite Team, 26:24
3. Herbalife/Bike America, 27:12

Stage 5 - Monroe Road Race, 90 miles
In a stage marred with crashes and erratic weather which included rain, winds, then oppressive heat, also saw TOSHIBA's second place GC rider Alzate flat in the first 5k and have to abandon the race. The TOSHIBA squad had to change its strategy on the road and again flexed its muscle with two laps to go in the road race, calling all the riders to the front to pull in a strong break of six and a pesky lone rider, Thad Dulin of DLP Racing to end up taking the win in a disintegrating bunch sprint against local Miami rivals, Ricardo Hernadez of Blue Star and Hector Pastorino of Herbalife/Bike America, grabbing valuable bonus seconds. Murphy ended up flatting with 1 k to go and received the same time as the main group.

1. Frank Travieso, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife
2. Ricardo Hernandez, Blue Star
3. Hector Pastorino, Herbalife/Bike America

GC after Stage 5
1. John Murphy, HealthNet presented by Maxxis, 4:48.50
2. Frank Travieso, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, 4:49.10
3. Bobby Sweeting,TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, 4:49.36
4. Yosvany Falcon, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, 4:49.39
5. John Fredy Parra, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, 4:50.24

Stage 6 - Criterium, 60k, Gainesville, Georgia
The last time the TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife rolled into Gainesville, Mark Hekman and Travieso placed first and second respectively. The team was looking to repeat its success from a few months before, and they did not disappoint, with Travieso winning his 3rd First place finish in as many days.

1. Frank Travieso, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife
2. John Murphy, HealthNet presented by Maxxis
3. Hector Pastorino, Herbalife/Bike America
4. Yosvany Falcon, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife

GC after Stage 6
1. John Murphy, HealthNet presented by Maxxis, 5:46.44
2. Frank Travieso, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, 5:47.00
3. Yosvany Falcon, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, 5:47.43
4. Bobby Sweeting, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, 5:47.45
5. John Fredy Parra, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, 5:48.33

Stage 7 - Criterium, 60 minutes, Buford, Georgia
Everything makes a full circle as the Tour of Atlanta wrapped up in the same city that kicked off the first stage of the tour. Sweeting went away early with six other riders, including Tim Henry of Jittery Joe's, Phil Gaimon of FiordeFrutta, Bruno Langlois of Myogenesis.com, and Chris Butler of Hincapie/Barkley. For several laps it seemed Sweeting would pull an upset over Murphy, winning several MAR bonus second primes and putting enough time into the main field. Sweeting's breakaway companions, unfortunatley, were not committed to lapping the field or put a sizable gap into the peloton. However, with 5 laps to go, Henry and Gaimon attacked and ultimately took first and second place (and the finish seconds), to ensure Murphy's grasp on the overall.

1. Tim Henry, Jittery Joe's
2. Phil Gaimon, FiordeFrutta
3. Leonardo Martinez, Preferred Alliance

Final General Classification
1. John Murphy, HealthNet presented by Maxxis, 6:48.05
2. Frank Travieso, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, 6:48.23
3. Bobby Sweeting, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, 6:48.46
4. Yosvany Falcon, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, 6:49.07
5. John Fredy Parra, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife, 6:49.57

With the finale of the Tour of Atlanta, TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife racked up 4 stage wins, first in the Team General Classification, and 4 of the final podium positions.Next up for TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Herbalife is Tulsa Tough, the second stop of the USA CRITS Series, the CSC Invitational, and the Commerce Bank Triple Crown. Follow all of the adventures of the boys in red at www.toshibacycling.com.

For more information please contact:
Joe Silva Public Relations
pr@swagger.us
Ravi Rajcoomar Managing Director
ravi@swagger.us