Here's George Fraser leading out Juan Jose Haedo and Freddy Rodriguez in the final sprint of the '06 Tour de Georgia. At the 100 meters to go mark, Fraser was giving it all he could but Haedo (left) was too much and simply out-sprinted Fraser for the stage win. In a post-race interview Fraser call it a "fair and square" sprint after expressing his disappointment with second place finishes on the podium. Stage 6 was the only stage this year that a rider from a continental team won.
About the shot: I like this shot. I like the intensity of sprints. Originally, I was unhappy with my positioning for this part of the stage. However, a shot like this would not have been possible from the other side of the road. The final couple hundred meters of this stage were enlosed by cattle gates and covered by sponsors' signs. Additionally, there was a slight left hand bend and uphill slope for the finish. Here, I was literally leaning on the 100m to go flag pole and out across the barrier. Because of the left turn in the course the riders hugged the barriers all the way in on every pass of the circuit. I actually had to pull my camera in on one pass to keep from striking a racer. What was good about it though, when the riders round the bend I had a straight-on shot of the sprint. I didn't have a lot of time to shoot it though. The other side of the road would have given me a longer approach to shoot more frames but I never would have gotten the shot of the sprinters coming at me like this.
As an aside, congrats to J.J. Haedo for another first place finish at the
Sunny King Criterium on Saturday, May 6. Expect to see J.J. racing across the pond soon. You can check out the full results of the
Sunny King Criterium here. Here's another shot of J.J., doing an interview before the final stage and his sprint victory.
To digress a bit further, you can now reach the Cycling Shots blog at www.cyclingshots.com. The new contact email is contact@cyclingshots.com (very original, I know). The blogspot address is still in use as well. Expect a full move to the new domain later on this summer, along with gallery access to the photos you see here and many more. If you've got any suggestions or comments for the blog feel free to let me know - on the blog comments or by email. Additionally, if you know of something worth shooting in the East Tennessee area (small trail rides are game) or even larger events in the Southeast, by all means buzz me. I'm tentatively planning a trip to the NORBA Showdown at Sugar Race in June. I'll keep you posted. Until next time. Cheers!