Dahlonega, GA - The first climbing stage of the Ford Tour de Georgia featured its share of fireworks, but when the whittled-down front group of about 40 riders came to the finish line after four rated climbs and 119 miles, Nathan O'Neill of the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis was positioned comfortably on the wheel of race leader Floyd Landis.

"Nathan looked great," noted Health Net Presented by Maxxis directeur sportif Jeff Corbett. "He was on Floyd's wheel all the way to the end."

Fred Rodriguez (Davitamon-Lotto), showing some good climbing legs, had the juice left at the end to win the sprint for the stage win ahead of Matteo Tosatto (Quick Step). Jeff Louder of Health Net Presented by Maxxis finished ninth.

Ollerenshaw pushes early break

Doug Ollerenshaw of Health Net Presented by Maxxis was part of the day's main break, which slipped away early in the race. But things didn't get interesting in the break until former Health Net Presented by Maxxis rider Jason McCartney (Discovery) bridged out to the group of 11. The break's gap to the peloton extended out beyond the two-minute range despite something of a lack of cohesion.

Ollerenshaw tried to stir things up with an attack but was brought back. But as the break crossed the 50-mile mark, McCartney countered and took Francisco Ventoso (Prodir-Saunier Duval) and Lucas Euser (TIAA-CREF) with him. With McCartney driving, the trio opened up a gap over two minutes. Ollerenshaw tried to bridge but was unable, while up front, Ventoso got shelled. Euser was next, and it looked like McCartney might be on his way to pulling off another solo win of this stage, as he did in the 2004 edition riding for Health Net Presented by Maxxis.

But with McCartney sitting seventh overall, just 1:38 behind race leader Landis, Phonak began to feel a bit edgy and started to drive the chase. By the time McCartney crested the final climb, the gap was down to :45, and with 13.5 miles still to go, there was just too much real estate for the solo rider to stay away. Even after he was caught, McCartney gave it one more go and got another gap of 15 seconds, but was caught with just over 1.5 miles to go.

Official Results