What’s a blog without a music video?

‘Specially one with a shoutout to Missouri’s own … Miss Sheryl Crow, who summited Alpe d’Huez a few years back. Different coast, but the tune fits the theme of Day 1 in the Tour de Georgia.

SAVANNAH, Ga — Tour de Georgia race director Jim Birrell wore a straw cowboy hat on Monday, which led to a fair bit of teasing with TdG publicist Steve Brunner calling Burrell “Tex.”

But Birrell had reason to soak up the sunshine on Monday, primarily because there was sunshine … in contrast to the Tour of California, which was pelted by rain and cold through its week in February.

Starting in the seaside resort town of Tybee Island, the Tour rode over marshland en route to the mainland for a trip through Savannah, a circuit west of the city before returning to Savannah for the finish.

“We’re quite pleased,” Birrell said. “After the week we had in the Tour of California, to have this scenic day was great.”

The opening stage was short primarily to allow the riders to shake out the cobwebs, with many from the top teams — Astana, High Road, CSC, Gerolsteiner and Slipstream — traveling from Europe. But the peloton was ready to get cranking from the get-go, according to Scott Nydam of BMC.

“Every team was dialed up from the start,” said Nydam, honored as the day’s Most Aggressive Rider for leading the one breakaway that escaped the bunch. “The peloton was buzzing. In the first portion, the winds were a factor, and no one knew what would happen. The stage was short enough at 70 miles that a team could drive it all the way to the line. All the teams were on their guard.”

Still, riders took the opportunity to bask in the scenery.

“Leaving Tybee Island, it was a beautiful start,” Nydam said. “The last time we were on the coast (California) I think I experienced seven hours in hypothermia so this time was a lot more pleasurable.”

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No glory for Rock: Rock Racing rode to the front of the peloton with 10k remaining in an effort to try to set up Freddie Rodriguez for the win.

But it was not to be. Although Rock strung out the group and controlled the front for about 6k, High Road, Slipstream and Gerolsteiner surged to the front for the final push to the line. Their move pinched Rodriguez from his group.

“At 3K to go, the other teams started to attack,” Rodriguez said. “I had a couple of guys with me, but I lost them in the last 2K. At the end, it was time to go, and I had no where to get out.”

That Rodriguez is riding at all is a victory. He had a bad crash in the final stage at Redlands a few weeks ago, and lost a week of training.

“I thought I broke my hip,” said Rodriguez, who won a stage here last year. ”I had a lot of bumps and bruises. …  My body’s feeling better and better every day. I’ll be ready to win one before it’s over.”

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Hometown guy: After the race, I visited with St. Louisan Michael Lange who rides for Jelly Belly. Lange’s a 2001 graduate of Parkway West. I’ll post the interview tomorrow.

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