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Tour of Missouri: Dominguez takes opening stage

Ivan Dominguez won the bunch sprint...(picture: copyright Kathleen Poulos)

Picture gallery: Tour of Missouri, stage 1, Kansas City - Kansas City

He may have been the favorite to win the first-ever stage of the Tour of Missouri, but Ivan Dominguez wasn’t feeling like a winner with fewer than five miles left in Tuesday’s 85-mile (137 km) road race that started and finished in Kansas City, Mo.

"I was not expecting to see that hill on the back end of the circuit," Dominguez said. "I was hurting every time we went up."

So with his legs badly cramping and only two of his seven teammates still in position to help him, Dominguez’s chances didn’t look good on the last of three laps around a circuit through Kansas City’s famous Plaza district.

That all changed, though, when the peloton swung onto the finishing straight in front of thousands of fans on a sun-splashed afternoon.

"Coming out of the last corner I was in 40th wheel and I did not expect to pass so many guys so fast," Dominguez said. "I realized it was a long way but I said to myself, ‘I’m going to try!’ "

With 250 meters to go, Dominguez was still 20 riders back, but moving up fast. He went from the right side of the road, across to the center, then attacked on the left to earn his 13th victory of the season, the team’s 35th this year and the 90th win overall for Toyota-United in its second season.

Earlier in the stage, a five-man breakaway gained a nearly six minutes’ lead. But the chasing efforts of several squads, including the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team, Toyota-United and Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle brought the gap down to fewer than two minutes with about 15 miles remaining.

"I buried four guys off the back of the leading group," Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said. "One guy has a knee (problem), the other couldn’t breathe. Two other guys were buried because they had worked so hard helping chase."

Wherry, Baldwin Helped Dominguez In Final Miles
Hours after teammate Ivan Dominguez scored the stage win and yellow jersey in the opening stage of the Tour of Missouri, Toyota-United’s Chris Wherry was still shaking his head.

"We’ve been a little shorthanded lately, missing some key guys who help drive the race toward the finish," Wherry said. "But today, the guys we had here put everything into making it happen."

Wherry played one of the most important roles by watching over Dominguez throughout the day.

"On the last time up the climb on the finishing circuits, I drifted back to find him,” Wherry said. “I kept going back farther and farther and finally found him. He was almost at the end of the pack – way back there."

Wherry escorted the Cuban sprint specialist up the outside of the nearly 100-rider strong peloton, then got an assist from teammate Chris Baldwin to position Dominguez in the top 15 riders.

"With about a kilometer to go, Ivan was on a good wheel. But suddenly, everyone else decided to swarm to the front and he got knocked back about 15 spots."

"Then, going into the last corner, Ivan and I were still about 40 riders back. So to win he really pulled off an amazing sprint. Plus it was into a headwind."

"So by going around so many people, he showed how fast he really was. He was amazing out there today."

A Brief Look Ahead To Wednesday’s Stage
Wednesday’s Stage 2 road race from Clinton to Springfield is 125.6 miles (202.1 km) and features mostly flat, but rolling terrain. Riders can expect sunny skies, with a high of 75 degrees, according to the National Weather Service forecast office. On keeping the race lead, Dominguez said, "I’d like to keep it as many days as I can, but it's not easy. Tomorrow’s stage has a lot of rollers and it is longer."

Race reports