Yesterday’s late day stage in the Tour of Missouri proved exciting as the peloton finished the day’s ride at the top of the infamous “Capitol Wall”. The stage was won by JJ Haedo as super sprinter Mark Cavendish had dropped out of the race with stomach issues. Check out the ToM’s offcial report on the days activities. All of the results and standing can be found here.
OUCH’s Brad White was dubbed the “most aggressive rider” and he paid for it, in blood after a minor crash on the Jefferson City finishing circuits. Here’s OUCH’s press release on the stage:
September 11, 2009
Long break earns White Most Aggressive jersey for Stage 4 of Missouri.
Jefferson City, MO – Brad White of the OUCH Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis lived up to his reputation as one of the most aggressive riders in the pro peloton during Stage 4 of the Tour of Missouri. White earned the Drury Hotels Most Aggressive Rider jersey for stage after instigating and helping to drive the main break of the day.
After Floyd Landis of OUCH Presented by Maxxis got the attacks started from the gun while rolling out of the start town of St. James, it took the first 32 of the 175 kilometers of the stage before the peloton was content to let White and three companions up the road.
“We were going pretty hard when they finally let us go,” White said. The four riders, including Bernard Van Ulden (Jelly Belly), Michael Creed (Team Type 1) and Jeff Louder (BMC), quickly opened a gap that at it’s largest reach around three minutes. From there, White said they worked well together, but also took advantage of time gap reports to measure their efforts.
“When the peloton would start to bring the gap down, we’d start going harder again to get it out,” White said. “All of us were working well together and we really didn’t have to kill ourselves until the last 40 km.”
With overall classification contender Louder in the break with them, White said, “we had a feeling the break wouldn’t stick until the end. And then when we heard that Cervelo, Saxo, Garmin and Liquigas were all putting guys on the front to chase us, we knew the move was coming back.”
Even so, after Creed was dropped, White and his remaining break-mates buried themselves to make it has hard as possible to make the catch, partly in the hope that when they reached the more technical finishing circuits in state capitol of Jefferson City, they might have a bit better chance of staying away. However, the horsepower at the head of the peloton, coupled with the more than 100 km effort in the heat and humidity out front took its toll, and the break was caught with 15 km to go.
After a steady barrage of attacks, the stage came down to a power sprint up the Capitol Wall, with Saxo Bank’s J.J. Haedo taking the win and the leader’s jersey from Cervelo’s Thor Hushovd.
“It was a hard effort, but it was really good to be out there giving it a go, and it was nice to come away from the effort with the Most Aggressive jersey,” White said. “It also gave Chris (Baldwin) and Rory (Sutherland) a good chill day, so they should be good for the time trial tomorrow.”
That individual time trial in Sedalia Friday will cover roughly 31 km, and is likely to determine the top of the general classification.
Notes
White’s Most Aggressive jersey for Stage 4 of the Tour of Missouri – his last race of the season – bookended the season for him. He also earned the Most Courageous Rider jersey in his first race of the season, for his efforts in the break during Stage 3 of the Amgen Tour of California
Today’s stage 5 is a 19 mile time trial which will be held in Sedalia on the Missouri State Fair grounds. It’s one for the purists as its flat, fast, and wide open.
Live streaming coverage, as always, can be found on the ToM Tour Tracker, or on universalsports.com.
Miscellaneous
Bruce took some nice shots of Floyd Landis at the ToM and they were posted on the ToM blog.
Rant also took some great pictures at Monday’s ToM stage 1 and you can see them on flickr.
Finally old bloggng friend Velo Vortmax wrote about the recently completed Tour of Utah and had this advice for Floyd Landis:
Lastly, I wish Floyd Landis would have been a little more interactive with the fans. Floyd you don’t have to be paranoid, come out and play. I still love the way you ride man. I was there and you were there and that beats an unfair suspension every time.
We’ll end it there…
