The fifteen International Ford Tour de Georgia cycling teams experienced a true hometown welcome in Cumming from a crowd estimated at 15,000.

Cumming and Forsyth residents got a rare treat earlier today – watching the start of the sixth and final stage of the 2006 Ford Tour de Georgia - the premiere professional cycling event in the US.

Prior to the start there was a fun ‘kids race’. The winner of the 4-6 age group was Michael Serwitz and Justin Skaggs won the race for the 7-8 age group. Look for some of these kids to become household names in the world of cycling. Reality Bikes of Cumming, owned by Todd Muller, provided cycling prizes to all participants and held a drawing from all participants for a new bicycle. The winner was Nicole Van Dyke. Her mom said she was ready for a larger bicycle, so this was a great ‘victory’ for Nicole.

Following the official start of Stage 6, hundreds of amateur cyclists lined up for the inaugural BrairRose Grand Peloton. This event was lead by 3-time Tour de France

Winner, Greg LeMond. Cyclists had to raise money for the Georgia Cancer Coalition to participate in this ride, which began at the same start line and finished in Alpharetta along with the profession teams.

119 riders representing 15 teams began the grueling six-stage race in Augusta last Tuesday. After 600 miles of rain, heat, and climbs like Fort Mountain and Brasstown Bald, only the toughest and most pain-adverse finished. 106 riders started Stage 6 in Cumming.

The point of stage bicycle racing is simple. Get to the finish in the shortest overall time. Floyd Landis, of the Phonak team, did just that, gobbling up the 600 miles in 24 hours, 00 minutes and 54 seconds. Right now, Landis is sitting atop the mountain of US road cycling.

But wearing the yellow jersey on the finish podium is not the whole story – not by any means. Sprints, King of the Mountain, and stage wins add to the drama and excitement of bicycle racing. Here’s the run-down.

Spectators in Cumming got a special treat watching the exiting Maxxis sprint on Tolbert Street. Peter Mazur of the Prodir-Saunier Duvail cycling team crossed the sprint finish line first to take the $2,500 prize, contributed by Cardinal Logistics Management.

The race continued past the Fairgrounds and concluded with the exciting finish in Alpharetta. Two riders, Jeff Lauder of Health Net and William Frischkorn of TIAA-CREF lead a break away that lasted until the final of the 6 laps, when the Peloton reeled them in.

The grand finale of the Ford Tour de Georgia came down to a field sprint after 118.2 miles/190.2 km and six furious circuits in historic Alpharetta, won by Juan Jose "JJ" Haedo (Argentina) of Toyota-United Pro cycling team posting a winning time of 4 hours, 37 minutes, 44 seconds.. Gord Fraser (Canada) of Health Net presented by MAXXIS, who has won the Alpharetta stage the past two years, finished second. Third place went to Swiss rider Aurelien Clerc of Phonak Hearing Systems.

The overall winner of the Tour de Georgia was Floyd Landis with Phonak. There were a few anxious moments when Landis flatted with four laps to go in Alpharetta, but lost no time in the end with a wheel change from teammate Ignacio Gutierrez (Spain) – who performed his job perfectly to support Landis’ win. Second place was earned by Tom Danielson of Discovery Channel Team and third place was awarded to Yaroslav Popovych of the Discovery Channel Team.

The award for Most Aggressive Rider was well deserved by Will Frischkorn of TIAA-CREF.

The outstanding team award went to the hands-down favorite – the Discovery Channel Cycling Team. The traditional champagne bath was enjoyed by the team as well as those ‘lucky enough’ to be in the line of fire!

This year’s Best Young Rider Award went to Janex Brajkovic of the Discovery Channel Team.

The “King of the Mountains” jersey went to Jason McCartney of Discovery Channel.

During the award ceremony, each winning cyclist is presented with a special jersey designating their accomplishment, substantial checks for the winner of certain events, flowers and of course, a kiss from the lovely ladies who present the flowers.

Beautiful crystal trophies designed by Fräbel were awarded to the top cyclists.

Anyone who finishes a race of this magnitude is a winner. It has taken a long, long time for professional bicycle racing to capture the imagination of the American people. Those of us who follow this sport will never forget Greg LeMond’s stunning upset of Laurent Fignon in the final time trial into Paris. Nor will we forget Lance Armstrong’s seven Tour De France victories and his devastating climbing victory over the “Pirate.” Perhaps during this year’s Tour de Georgia we got a sneak preview of the next hero of the world’s toughest sporting event.

Since Landis will add the Tour de Georgia crown to wins at the Tour of California and Paris-Nice, watch out for this guy at the Tour de France. He's the real deal!