Maybe it's too soon to turn out the lights on the Tour de Georgia, but CyclingNews reports the 6-year-old bike race is “unlikely” to be around next season.

That's going to make a lot of people sad, especially the estimated 400,000 who flocked to the roadside to witness at last one of the seven stages of bicycle racing across Georgia in April.

There are more details at the CyclingNews report, but here's the gist of the story ….

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The Tour de Georgia that ended last month added an estimated $38.6 million to the state's economy – a 40% increase over last year.

That's a healthy bump, but why the big jump? It is surprising, especially considering that spectatorship was down to about 400,000 this year, a 20% drop from the previous year's 515,000.

Methodology of data gathering might have something to do with it. So does inflation, the price of gasoline, and an increase in the number of foreign visitors lured by the weak dollar. …

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The 2008 Tour de Georgia bike race certainly didn't follow any script.

It was full of surprises. Among them:

1. Fifty-one US cyclists rode in the 120-man peloton.

–Not one US cyclist won a stage. Not one US cyclist wore the yellow jersey. (Jason McCartney of CSC did win KOM.)

Interestingly, when Slipstream-Chipotle — a team with 8 US cyclists — won the Stage 4 Team Time Trial, it was Australian Trent Lowe who crossed the finish line first. That's how he ended up in the yellow jersey after the next stage.

2. The peloton hosted two former Tour de Georgia champions and many veteran contenders, including the winners of February's Tour of California and last fall's Tour of Missouri.

– It was 25-year-old Kanstantin Sivtsov, right,  from Belarus who made the decisive move on Brasstown Bald on Saturday. He passed 23-year-old Trent Lowe and 10-year cycling pro Levi Leipheimer to capture the stage and eventually the Tour.

3. Team High Road dominated the Tour, with three stage wins and four yellow jerseys.

– If you had told me that before the race, I would have expected South Carolina's George Hincapie to be wearing the yellow jersey …

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I committed a real “Dewey Defeats Truman” blunder at Biking Bis on Saturday when I named Trent Lowe at the overall leader of the Tour de Georgia following the Brasstown Bald stage.

It was Kanstantin Sivtsov (Belarus) of Team High Road who actually captured the overall lead after powering ahead of Trent Lowe and Levi Leipheimer in the final yards on the mountain.

I had listened to and watched the video stream of the end of the final stage, rushed to file a story on the results, then logged off for the day as I undertook to catch up on my one-person parenting duties while my wife is out of town. Big mistake….

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Brasstown Bald looms Saturday for Tour de Georgia

In spite of what appears to be an Australian invasion controlling the Tour de Georgia after Friday's stage, the US favorites have climbed in the standings for a battle on Brasstown Bald on Saturday.

Aussie Richard England, right, riding for the Bissell cycling team, challenged and beat countryman Rory Sutherland (HealthNet) in a sprint to the Stage 5 finish line in Dahlonega on Friday.

Meanwhile, Slipstream's Trent Lowe, also from Australia, donned the yellow jersey although he's in a tie with two teammates. Lowe finished first in Slipstream's winning team time trial on Thursday, so he gets the honor of wearing the yellow …

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The Slipstream-Chipotle team used its horsepower to win the Team Time Trial at Road Atlanta on Thursday, Stage 4 of the 2008 Tour de Georgia.

Greg Henderson held onto the yellow jersey, however, in spite of his Team High Road's 3rd place finish, less than 4 seconds behind. Astana finished in 2nd place, about 2 seconds behind. Team CSC finished 4th.

The win by Slipstream helps to set up former Tour de Georgia winner Tom Danielson in a good position …

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Fifteen teams will be racing against the clock at the Road Atlanta speedway for Stage 4 of the 2008 Tour de Georgia, the event's first-ever team time trial.

The course is located in Braselton, northeast of Atlanta, and the event is scheduled to run from 1 to about 4 p.m. (ET).  As usual, WCSN.com is offering its video stream of …

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In just one race stage, the 2008 Tour de Georgia is all about Greg Henderson of the High Road team.

The 31-year-old sprint and track specialist from New Zealand won the broken field sprint in Gainesville on Wednesday afternoon to take Stage 3. With yellow jersey holder Ivan Dominguez finishing far back, Henderson also took the over race lead.

And with intermediate and finish line sprint points building up for the past three stages, Henderson also took the lead in the points classification…

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