Sivtsov wins Tour de Georgia

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Kanstantin Sivtsov of Belarus secured victory in the Tour de Georgia on Sunday after finishing 20th in the main field of the final stage.

The 25-year-old, a former amateur world road titlist, claimed the week-long Tour by four seconds over Australian Trent Lowe.

American Levi Leipheimer, one of the pre-race favorites, finished in third place, trailing Sivtsov by 14 seconds.

"It's an important win for the team, it's not so important for me," said Sivtsov, who rides for the American-based High Road team and was competing in the United States for the first time.

"The team was so strong for me. They helped me in the mountains and controlled the race."

New Zealand's Greg Henderson, Sivtsov's team mate, won the final stage -- a 10-loop circuit race around downtown Atlanta that featured several crashes following morning rain.

There was also an unusually high number of flat tires due to glass fragments from shattered high-rise building windows following a tornado two weeks ago.

Juan Jose Haedo of Argentina was second in the final stage and Andrew Pinfold of Canada was third, both in the same time as Henderson.

A field of 119 began the race on April 21 in Savannah, Georgia. After the withdrawal of eight riders on Sunday, 98 cyclists completed the race.

(Writing by James Raia; Editing by Peter Rutherford)