Atlanta, GA – On the strength of placing four riders in the top 20 overall, Team Type 1 finished third in the team classification at the Tour de Georgia presented by AT&T.

Winning the team classification was Astana, the season-long leader in the ProTour standings. CSC, the ProTour winner the past three years, was second. Team Type 1 finished ahead of three ProTour teams: Team High Road (which won the race overall, as well as two stages), Slipstream-Chipotle presented by H30 and Gerolsteiner. A first-year pro squad, Team Type 1 was also tops among the seven domestic teams in the race.

“We focused a lot of attention on this race and it paid off,” Team Type 1 Sport Director Ed Beamon said. “I couldn’t have asked of any more from these guys. It was absolutely amazing how well they rode, especially on Brasstown Bald.”

Team Type 1’s impressive success in the top 20 was led by Moises Aldape who finished eighth, Valeriy Kobzarenko was 15th, Chris Jones 17th and Glen Chadwick was 20th. Ian MacGregor placed 51st and Fabio Calabria, a Type 1 athlete and the youngest rider in the race, placed ninth in the Best Young Rider (Under 25) competition and 59th overall out of 98 finishers (and 119 starters).

Other than Astana (which had three riders in the top 20), no other team in the seven-day, 600-mile event had more than two riders in the top 20. Team Type 1 also registered three top 10 finishes, including two by Aldape. On the race’s most decisive stage, the climb up Brasstown Bald Mountain on Saturday, four riders from Team Type 1 were among the first 17 finishers – led by Aldape’s sixth place.

“I didn’t expect to be so high on the general classification,” Aldape said. “I’m really happy, especially with the high-caliber talent here. This is a big step for the team to earn respect. I wanted to give something back to the team for signing me and having faith in me and this was my first opportunity.”

In Sunday’s final stage, a 62.6-mile (100.9 km) circuit race encompassing 10 laps of a course through Downtown Atlanta, Jones nearly moved himself further up the overall standings by being a part of an early breakaway. Unfortunately, a flat rear tire and extraordinarily long wheel change prevented him from regaining his place in the break.

“It was a 45-second gap (between the break and the field) and I had a 55-second wheel change,” Jones said. “By the time I got going after my rear wheel puncture, the lead commissaire’s car was already on me.”