There are 15 teams and eight riders per team in this year’s edition of the Tour de Georgia. How do you get your head around 120 cyclists and know who some of the contenders and cyclists to watch are, you ask Kevin Livingston, a consultant for Medalist Sports and a former professional cyclist himself. Livingston was Lance Armstrong’s main mountain lieutenant in Armstrong’s first two Tour de France wins in 1999 and 2000.

Of the teams competing in this year’s Tour de Georgia, this is who Livingston and the rest of the cycling world have their eyes on.

• Discovery Channel has a strong team this year with Tom Danielson, the 2005 Tour de Georgia winner and 2006 Tour of Austria winner, Levi Leipheimer, this year’s Tour of California winner with three top 10 finishes in the Tour de France, and George Hincapie, Armstrong’s former lieutenant and first place finisher in the 2006 USA Cycling National Road Race Championships. Hincapie injured his wrist in the Tour of California and is looking to regain some momentum with the Tour de Georgia.

• Team CSC has David Zabriskie, a yellow jersey wearer in the Tour de France in 2005 and reigning USA Cycling Time Trial Champion and silver medalist at the 2006 World Time Trial Championships, domestique Christian Vandevelde, the 2006 Tour of Luxembourg winner and Juan Jose “JJ” Haedo, a yellow jersey winner in last year’s Tour de Georgia and second overall in the inaugural Tour of California.

• Quickstep Innergetic is another strong team with Italian riders Paolo Bettini, Leonardo Scarselli and Giovanni Visconti leading the way. Bettini is the defending world road champion and Italian national road champion. He is also an Olympic gold medalist winning the 2004 Olympic road race in Athens and three-time winner of the UCI World Cup series.

Visconti won the U23 Europea Road Championships and the Italian National Road Championships in 2003, while Scarselli has won the Tour of Senegal in 2003 and had several stage wins there between 2002 and 2004.

• Predictor Lotto has Nicholas Gates, a two time Australian national road champion, and Freddie “Fast Freddie” Rodriguez, a three time US National Road Champion, making the field of Pro Tour Teams a very stacked field.

• Prodir Saunier-Duval is led by David Millar, a yellow jersey wearer in the 2003 Tour de France, and Gilberto Simoni, a two time winner of the Tour of Italy and sporter of the yellow jersey in the 2003 Tour de France as well. Simoni is looking for a third title at the Tour of Italy, and is hoping to use momentum from the Tour de Georgia to get there.

• Tinkoff has a very familiar name in rider Tyler Hamilton, a former Olympic medalist who had been suspended for two years after testing positive for a blood transfusion at the Tour of Spain in 2004. Hamilton is joined by Daniele Contrini, who makes a big impression coming out of the gates and describes himself as an attacking type of rider, and Pavel Brutt, who captured a King of the Mountains jersey at the Circuito Montanes.

• Among the US teams, Healthnet’s Nathan O’Neill, a resident of Braselton, Ga., is expected to be right there with the pro riders. O’Neill is an Australian Time Trial Champion and has raced in Europe. In 2006, O’Neill won the Redlands Classic and Mt. Hood Classic. He is joined by Rory Sutherland, the first Australian U23 national Champion, and former mountain biker and strong climber Ryder Hesjedal.

• Navigators Insurance has a little bit of everything with Phil Zajicek, Sergey Lagutin and breakaway specialist Viktor Rapinski. Zajicek had several podium finishes in some of North America’s top stage races including La Vuelta de Bisbee, the Mt Hood Classic, and the Longsjo Classic, Lagutin is the current Uzbekistan National Road Champion and a former U23 World Road Race Champion and Rapinski won the Belarus National Time Trial Championship in 2005.

• Team Slipstream has the U23 World Time Trial Champion Danny Pate, Tom Peterson, named the Best Young Rider in the inaugural Tour of California, and Jason Donald, who placed second in the prologue of this year’s Tour of California.

• Toyota - United Pro has Chris Baldwin, who placed second in the U.S. Pro Time Trials, Henk Vogels and Ivan Dominguez, who won the final stage of the Tour of California this year. Baldwin has a total of 19 career wins with two national time trial championships, claiming the title in 2003 and 2005, and Vogels, one of the sport’s best lead out men and Western Australia’s most successful road cyclist with gold medals at the Commonwealth Games, the USPRO Road and Criterium Championships, and the Australian National Road Championships.

• BMC Racing Team is starting to gel a bit with two Swiss riders, David Vitoria, a fast finisher formerly with the Phonak team, and Alexandre Moos, the 2007 team road captain and former Swiss national champion.

• The Jittery Joe’s team, the hometown favorite for the Tour de Georgia, could have Cesar Grajales back for the race. Grajales beat Lance Armstrong up Brasstown Bald in 2004. Also on a strong Jittery Joe’s roster is Trent Wilson, the team’s captain and a stage winner at last year’s Jayco Herald Sun Tour.

• The U.S. National team also has some promising young riders, including John Devine and Brent Bookwalter. Bookwalter was first in the U23 National Time Trial Championships, first in the Tour of Virginia and first Best Young Rider in the Tour de Beauce. Devine will join Discovery Channel in July.

• The Priority Health team has Atlanta resident and native Trinidadian Emile Abraham, a nine time National Road Champion and Ben Jacques-Maynes, who was tops in the Men’s NRC standings after a tremendous display at the Central Valley Classic.

• Colavita/Sutter Home has a very aggressive rider in Argentina’s Alejandro “Ale Jet” Acton. In 2006, he distinguished himself by winning several major criteriums and wearing the Most Aggressive jersey for stages two and three of the Tour de Georgia.

There will be some young riders out to make their mark with this race, while some cagey veterans will look to build some momentum for the rest of their seasons.
Follow the action at www.tourdegeorgia.com

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