HIAWASSEE — Cesar Grajales of the Athens-based Jittery Joe's team overcame a flat tire, Georgia's highest peak and the world's best cyclist Saturday to win Stage 6 of the seven-stage Tour de Georgia.
Five-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong finished third, half a bike frame behind Voigt.
"This is so huge for the team," said Grajales. "This is so important. We may be the smallest of the group."
Armstrong retained the overall leader's yellow jersey for the fourth-straight stage with a cumulative time of 22:19.05. Voigt remained second in the overall, 24 seconds back. The two are not likely to change positions during today's final stage, which starts in Dawsonville and finishes in Alpharetta.
Grajales, in 6th place, is not a contender for the yellow jersey. But a stage win was a major statement since the tier III Jittery Joe's operates on a budget of under $200,000. Armstrong's tier I U.S. Postal Service team runs on several million.
Grajales has beaten Armstrong to the top of a hill before. Grajales won the King of the Mountains competition ahead of Armstrong at the San Francisco Grand Prix last September.
"Lance has different goals," Grajales said. "He wants to win the Tour de France. For me, this is the biggest race in the U.S. I was going for this three months ago."
http://www.savannahnow.com/stories/042504/SPT_cycling.shtml
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