BRASELTON, Ga. — Slipstream/Chipotle, the Boulder-based team that features two veteran Tour de France riders, won the rare team time-trial fourth stage by nearly 3 1/2 seconds, while Greg Henderson increased his lead Thursday in the Tour de Georgia.
Paced by David Zabriskie of Salt Lake City, a former individual time-trial stage winner and race leader of the Tour de France, Slipstream/Chipotle completed the 10-mile, four-loop course at Road Atlanta in 19 minutes, 38.86 seconds.
A team time trial, in which a squad races together against the clock, had not been held in a major stage race in the U.S. since the 1993 Tour DuPont.
Henderson, whose Team High Road squad finished third in 19:42.06, began the fourth stage with a nine-second lead over Slipstream’s Tyler Farrar.
But Farrar dropped off his team’s pace on the final lap and fell to 69th place, trailing by 1:58.
“We tried to keep an even pace, but it was difficult with the short, steep climbs,” said Slipstream rider Danny Pate of Colorado Springs. “But we did everything we wanted to do, with the exception of Tyler (Farrar). That was unfortunate.”
Andre Greipel of Germany, Henderson’s teammate, was second overall, 15 seconds back. Zabriskie was third overall, also 15 seconds behind.
