New Zealand's Greg Henderson won the third stage of the Tour de Georgia to take the overall race lead.

He finished in the same time as German team mate Andre Greipel and third-placed American Tyler Farrar in a bunch sprint at the end of the 174.1km Washington to Gainesville stage.

Former world track cycling champion Henderson holds a nine-second lead over Farrar in the seven-stage race, having trailed former race leader Ivan Dominguez of Cuba by three seconds at the start of the third stage.

Argentina's Juan Jose Haedo, who won the second stage, trails by 11 seconds overall in third place.

Dominguez, who won the first stage and finished third on Tuesday, struggled home in 93rd place, nearly 90 seconds behind Henderson, to trail by one minute 34 seconds overall.

The tour continues on Thursday with a team time trial -- a first for the race -- and concludes on Sunday with a circuit race in Atlanta.

STAGE TWO

Argentina's Juan Jose Haedo won the second stage of the Tour de Georgia, while Ivan Dominguez keeps his hold on the overall lead.

Sprint-specialist Haedo, riding for Team CSC, pulled away in the final 100 metres of the 186.2 km stage from Statesboro to Augusta, finishing ahead of New Zealand's Greg Henderson (Team High Road) and Dominguez.

The third-place finish means that Cuban Dominguez retains the AT&T leader's jersey for the Toyota-United Pro Cycling team.

Haedo, who won the sprint jersey in the 2007 edition of the tour through the Peach State, said: "I decided in the last 5 km that I would know if I wanted to be in the sprint. I just to be safe, so I managed to stay in the front and I found Ivan's wheel, so I think it was the perfect lead-out."

The third stage sets off on Wednesday from Washington, Wilkes County to Gainesville, over a course of 176.5 km with three opportunities to earn sprint points along the way.

STAGE ONE

Cuban Ivan Dominguez of Toyota-United won stage one of the Tour of Georgia between Tybee Island and Savannah after emerging from the sprinting peleton.

Australian Nicholas Sanderson of Jelly Belly was second and German Robert Forster of Gerolsteiner third, determined by photo finish.

The 113.3km stage was the first of seven, with one each day and the race ending on Sunday.

"I had a lot of guys [before the race] saying, 'tomorrow is for you, short and flat, the way you like it,'" sprinter Dominguez, who was also the best rider in that category, said afterwards.

"But I was really surprised when I won, because I'm not doing 100 percent yet. [With] 50 metres to go, I looked to my arms and the guys were the same distance behind.

"I thought no one was going to pass, but you still have to go all the way to the finish."

It was Dominguez's first stage win at the Tour after three runners-up spots at the 2004 race.

The lead was held by Team High Road and Rock Racing at different points before Toyota-United came to the fore to give Dominguez his chance.

Tony Mabert / Jonathan Symcox / Reuters