As a sponsor of the Tour de Georgia, the Bissell vacuum company had its logo on the final car in the Tour caravan, ostensibly to “sweep up” riders in the peloton who fell way behind.

But Friday, the Bissell logo was quite evident at the front of the race as well, an unexpected development for a U.S. domestic team considering the international cycling powers in the race — Astana, High Road, CSC, Gerolsteiner and of course the new American power, Slipstream-Chipotle.

Bissell’s Ted King rode in the four-man breakaway that escaped 35 miles into the 133-mile stage and served ultimately as the prelude to the main event – Richard England’s stage victory for Bissell before an enthusiastic crowd in Dahlonega.

Bissell thus joined Toyota-United as the only U.S. domestic team to win a stage in America’s three tours — Georgia, California and Missouri — in the past three years.

“It’s awesome for us, awesome for the sponsors,” England said right before the podium ceremony.

King’s effort in the breakaway helped set up England’s winning effort. The peloton, driven by teams with G.C. aspirations (Astana, Slipstream-Chipotle and High Road), caught the break on the final climb of the day, a Category 3 pitch about 1.5 miles from the finish.

England came through the resulting traffic jam on the climb – riders were zigging and zagging up the hill, or ”paperboying it,” as Health Net-Maxxis’ Tim Johnson described it — and was in prime position to launch the attack that carried him to victory.

“There were a lot of different legs,” England said, in reference to varying amount of fatigue for the breakway riders and the riders who drove the catch. ”All the guys from Astana had been on the front all day, and High Road had been at the front. Ultimately, you want to be in position to get over the top near the front and that’s where I was.”

England had studied the course profile closely to find an edge. For Bissell, it had been tough going thus far in the TdG.

“With this field, it’s been hard for our team to get organized before the finished,” England said. “The last K, I’ve been by myself a little bit the first few stages. Today, the team did a great job. We knew we had to be close to the front.”

Health Net-Maxxis’ Tim Johnson attacked on the final climb and put distance between himself and his fellow breakaway riders — King, Team Type 1’s Valery Kobzarenko and Symetrics Cam Evans — and then the peloton swarmed. The breakaway riders were literally tacking to and fro across the road, and England steered through the mess and made his move along with Health Net-Maxxis’ aggressive Rory Sutherland.

“I’ve been telling my team this week that I could be on the podium, and it was time to sort of man up and take a chance, and I knew that the last corner was close to the finish,” England said. “I thought if I hit the last corner first, maybe a couple people would come around me, and I’d still get a podium result which is pretty huge for our team.

“So when Rory hit on my left, and I went on the right, and I just got probably a nicer run into that last corner, and then it was pretty much just everything I had to the finish. I mean, I’m still surprised that nobody came past me. but when you’re at the front and you don’t see anyone in front of you, you keep going.”

England’s winning time was 5 hours 15.15  seconds, the same time as the top 15 finishers. Sutherland crossed the line second, with High Road’s Big George Hincapie third. All of the yellow jersey contenders finished in that group, setting up the decisive mountaintop finish  Saturday in Stage 6, the sometimes 20-degree beast known as Brasstown Bald.

Slipstream-Chipotle’s Trent Lowe is in the yellow jersey, basically in a three-way tie with teammates Christian Vande Velde and David Zabriskie. Pre-race favorite Levi Leipheimer and Astana teammates Chris Horner and Antonio Colom are just four seconds back. High Road’s Hincapie and Kanstantsin Siutsou are 6 seconds in arrears.

The winner on Brasstown Bald, and hence the TdG’s overall winner, should come from that elite grouping, with powerhouses Slipstream, Astana and High Road going at it Saturday to put their top riders in position to duke it out on the mountaintop finish.

“A few seconds up is better than a few seconds,” said Lowe, just 25 years old. “It’s going to be a fight. It all comes down to this, and it’s going to be a drag race up that climb.”

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