Tour de Georgia to fill Washington with thousands
By KIP BURKE, news editor

Some 150 world-class pro cyclists will start the third stage of the Tour de Georgia in Washington next Wednesday, winding their way north from Wilkes County to Gainesville.

The Tour de Georgia is almost here.

Next Wednesday morning, Washington will quickly fillwith hundreds of pro bike racers and crews, followed by thousands of spectators lining the Tour de Georgia race course awaiting the start of the third stage of the race.

Events start Tuesday night with a street dance on The Square. "At 8 p.m. we'll have our street dance with music by the Playback Band featuring TuTu Devine sponsored by the Washington-Wilkes Arts Foundation," said local chairman Ashley Barnett. "Plus we'll have live music at the Washington Farmers Market, so come, eat dinner and shop downtown."

In preparation for the race, the city of Washington will restrict vehicular traffic on The Square from 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 22, to 1 p.m. Wednesday to accommodate the race teams, vehicles, vendors, and media that will pour into town for the day.

"Try to carpool and park in surrounding areas away from The Square," Barnett said. "There will be no parking behind the Court House, at Dycom, or around The Square at all. Allison Street will be closed, and Court Street will be closed from Farmers State Bank to The Farmers Market."

Wednesday's activities will start at 8 a.m. with live music from Bragg & Hughes. "We'll have lots of vendors and activity on The Square, and breakfast will be available at Washington Jockey Club, The Sandwich Shop, at Talk of the Town2/Coffee Corner, Alfred's, and at Down Under Restaurant in the Fitzpatrick," Barnett said.

Washington's Subway restaurant will make some 450 sandwiches for racers, teams, and Tour staff that morning, and race sponsor Waffle House will serve breakfast to race VIPs at The Peloton Club hospitality tent at all Start Line venues.

At 9:30 a.m. race fans can come to Autograph Alley and meet the professional cyclists from all over the world, with teams as close as the Jittery Joe's Team from Athens all the way to the GE/Marco Polo Team from China.

Opening ceremonies will start at 10:15 a.m. with the National Anthem, Barnett said. "Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle, the Chairman for the Tour de Georgia, along with Wilkes County Chairman Sam Moore, Washington Mayor Willie Burns and other local dignitaries will be introduced on stage." Mayor Burns will give the officialwelcome.

At 11 a.m. sharp, Chairman Moore will serve as OfficialStarter, firing the starter gun to set the 150 riders off toward Gainesville.

By that time, Barnett said, race officials expect that up to 10,000 people will be lining the race course from the start on The Square and going east along East Robert Toombs Avenue.

The course will be lined with banner-covered bar- riers for some distance, as local police and Georgia State Patrol troopers will close down large intersections as the race group passes.

Once the road is closed, both vehicle and pedestrian traffic will not be allowed to cross the course from driveways, cross roads, alleys, parking lots and intersections. Full-time Tour de Georgia flaggers will direct riders and keep the course clear, while local volunteers will block home and business driveways to keep riders and spectators safe.

The entire race will pass each spot in only a few minutes, as the pro riders will be tightly bunched early in the race. Streets and roads will reopen after the racers pass.

The race course will follow East Robert Toombs to East Street, where it turns left to go by the Washington Wilkes Elementary School. Although students are engaged in state-mandated testing that day, they are expected to be finished in time to line the street to watch the race go by at 11.

From East Street, the racers, led by state troopers and accompanied by team vehicles and press motorcycles, will turn left on Hill Street and follow Hill Street downhill and around curves to Poplar Drive. A right turn at Poplar Drive will take racers up the old Tignall Road to Highway 17 and on through Tignall, into Elbert County and on to Gainesville.

Riders will not accelerate to their full race pace until they pass the north bypass, Tour organizers said.

Racers are expected to cover the 109.7 miles to the day's finish by 3 p.m. The Tour de Georgia will end on Sunday with a circuit race in Atlanta after having covered some 600 miles in seven days.

After the race start in Washington, Tour de Georgia organizers and volunteers will immediately begin to remove their stages and equipment and expect to be out of town by 1 p.m. The Square will reopen to vehicles at 1 p.m.

Washington's start of the Tour de Georgia stage will be televised on the SportSouth cable and satellite network that Wednesday night at 10:30 p.m.

SportSouth will televise a series of 30-minute daily recap shows at 10:30 from Monday, April 21 through Sunday, April 27, with a preview show on Saturday, April 19 at 10:30 p.m.

After the race, the cable and satellite network Versus, Comcast channel 61 in Washington, will provide playback coverage of the 2008 Tour on Sunday, May 4 at 2 to 4 p.m.

The worldwide television audience for the Tour de Georgia is expected to be more than 50 million people.

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