Toyota-United aims for stage wins at Tour of Missouri

10.09.2007/ The inaugural Tour of Missouri would appear to have a little something for everyone on the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team. Toyota-United Team Owner Sean P. Tucker said the six-day, 563-mile race is high on the team’s priority list. Toyota-United is the only domestic squad to have won stages of the Amgen Tour of California and the Tour de Georgia last year and this year.

The inaugural Tour of Missouri would appear to have a little something for everyone on the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team.

There’s the opening stage around Kansas City and the final circuit race in St. Louis that would appear to favor sprint specialists Ivan Dominguez and Ivan Stevic. Stage 3 in Branson provides Chris Baldwin an opportunity to showcase his time trial ability, while Stages 2 and 4 present the opportunity for a breakaway which could include the likes of Heath Blackgrove, Chris Wherry, Sean Sullivan, Justin England or Jose Manuel 'Chepe' Garcia.

"We are definitely looking for stage wins," Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said. "We will definitely miss Henk (Vogels) and Caleb (Manion) but the guys we have here are more than capable of doing the job."

Vogels and Manion, some of the team’s strongest lead-out specialists, are the latest two in a long line of injuries that have plagued the Toyota-United team this season. Vogels helped lead out Dominguez’s stage win at the Amgen Tour of California in February while Manion set up Stevic’s stage win in April at the Tour de Georgia. Manion is out with a broken collarbone while Vogels broke his shoulder in July.

Toyota-United’s eight riders in the race represent six different nationalities (United States, Serbia, Cuba, Australia, Mexico and New Zealand). With few having ever raced in Missouri, the course remains somewhat of a mystery.

"Some people say it’s flat while others say it’s hard and rolling," Blackgrove said. "From what I gather, it’s going to be up and down most of the time. I’m not 100 percent sure, though, so that can be part of the fun."

Toyota-United Team Owner Sean P. Tucker said the six-day, 563-mile race is high on the team’s priority list. Toyota-United is the only domestic squad to have won stages of the Amgen Tour of California and the Tour de Georgia last year and this year.

"Whenever you can compete against the European teams, we always like to do our best to at least win one race, because we are an American team and this is Missouri and it’s in America," Tucker said. "You always want to compete against the best and come up good."