What a great place to start a race. With the Atlantic ocean as a back drop, the sixth edition of the Tour de Georgia began Monday on Tybee Island outside of Savannah.

The weather was perfect. Sunny sky. 70 degrees. A bit of a wind. Short stage, 70.4 miles, so expect sprinters such as Ivan Dominguez of Toyota-United and Freddie Rodriquez of Rock Racing to come to the fore.

Photos from the start … (all photos by Dave Luecking)

US. national champ Levi Leipheimer chats with competition director Kevin Livingstone (center) before the race.

BMC’s Tayler Tolleson talks cycles with Georgia State Troopers.

The lads are lined up at the start. From left, Ivan Dominguez, J.J. Haedo, David Zabriskie, Christian VandeVelde, Bobby Julich, Levi Leipheimer, Rory Sutherland, Chris Horner.

On the “rolling”start, the lads have time to kibitz.

On the real start, the lads are all business. Tour of Missouri winner George Hincapie (center) of High Road Sports is at the front with his team High Road. To the right of George is Dave Zabriskie of Slipstream-Chipotle.

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