Less than a half-hour before the start of the final stage of the Tour of Missouri Sunday afternoon, Toyota-United
Pro Cycling Team Director Harm Jansen gathered what remained of his original eight-man squad for the six-day, six-stage race.
Seated in the team’s bus just a few blocks from the start line were the three riders who would be charged with
helping Ivan Dominguez get to the finish line first in the 74-mile (119 km) race that comprised seven circuits of a loop through
the streets of downtown St. Louis.
There was Chris Wherry, the team’s captain whose focus has shifted from being
a powerful stage rider and overall contender to that of top lead-out man following season-ending injuries to Henk Vogels,
Ivan Stevic and Caleb Manion.
Next to him sat Heath Blackgrove, the tough, quiet super domestique whose season started
all the way back on Jan. 1 in his home country of New Zealand. The toll of a long season showed on Blackgrove’s face,
as he hardly managed a smile when team bus driver Paul Davi greeted him.
The only other engine on the Toyota-United
lead-out train this day would be the most unlikely of suspects. Normally a climbing specialist, Justin England would be asked
to drive the pace hard enough to keep the other 98 riders in the race behind him.
“Remember, we’re not
equipped to be able to do any work today until the very end,” Team Director Harm Jansen said to the four. “Remain
patient. Our time will come.”
Each of the four nodded in agreement as they made last-minute adjustments to their
race radios, helmets and sunglasses.
Integral to Jansen’s plan would be for the pack to be together as it neared
the finish. Fortunately, that is exactly what happened, thanks to the chasing efforts of several teams – with the 150-pound
England helping out in the rotation.
“I tried to take longer pulls since there was only one of me and everyone
else helping with the chase had three or four riders,” England said.
The patience that Jansen preached was never
more evident than in the final three miles. Despite the frenetic, 36 miles-an-hour pace at the head of the peloton, Wherry,
Blackgrove and Dominguez remained calm, riding at the back of the field.
“We knew when our time to go to work would
come,” Blackgrove (pictured at left) said. “It was just a matter of waiting.”
That time came inside
the final mile. Blackgrove helped a fast-fading England marshal Wherry and Dominguez up the side of the pack. With 1,000 meters
to go, Wherry took Dominguez toward the front, then sprinted out of the last turn like he was going for the win himself.
From
there, Dominguez flew by to finish it off.
“It was just like we drew up,” Blackgrove said afterwards,
grinning. “Pretty simple, eh?”
Hincapie overall winner
American George Hincapie made Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team’s last American ride a victorious one
as he held onto a one-minute, 40-second advantage in the General Classification over Coloradoan and countryman Will Frischkorn
to win the inaugural six-day, 562-mile Tour of Missouri professional cycling race.
“I don’t know where this ranks in my career but the win is special,” said Hincapie, who is one America’s
most prolific professional cyclists ever, having finished a record 11 Tours de France and has won a stage of that race. “For
me, to win this race, which included the Tour de France champion (Alberto Contador) and Levi Leipheimer, who finished third
in the Tour, is very special. It means a lot to win a big race like the Tour of Missouri as part of the Discovery Channel’s
last race in the United States.”
Hincapie was enthousiastic about the team that Discovery Channel team manager Johan Bruyneel had selected for the
Tour of Missouri: “Johan brought a great team to Missouri in part, because this is the last race we’ll do
in the United States, ever as the DSC team. So it was important for us to have a strong team here
and try to get the win. Having guys like Alberto and Levi, and most of the Tour de France team working for me was really special
and I’ll definitely miss those guys in the next couple years.”
Hincapie continued by saying: “That downhill finish with 500 meters to go you can kind of see straight down to the
finish and all you could see was people. It was really cool to be part of that.”
The 2006 US national road race champion liked the course: “We didn’t have any major climbs, but the time trial
was a lot harder than any other we did domestically this year. In that sense, the time trial made up for lack of the mountains.
The rolling terrain got to your legs after a while. There was never any flat. So it was quite good racing.”
Hincapie likes to race in the US: “The fans in the U.S. are so enthousiastic, the press is always talking about the
racing and how exciting it is, the announcers – the show they make at the start and finish lines. The Europeans on our
team are so impressed at the end of the day. If we could do it our way we’d do 10 of these big races every year, but
it’s not like that… “
Dominique Rollin (Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada) said about the first edition of the Tour of Missouri: "The entire week has
been incredible .I’m proud to be part of the first Tour of Missouri, especially to see the race growing, to see all
the people on the side of the road that didn’t know anything about cycling and were there cheering for us. It was great
to see people interested in cycling and it will help grow cycling in North America.”
Louder took the
king of the mountains jersey
While Jeff Louder (Health Net p/b Maxxis) said the king of the mountains classification wasn’t a goal coming into
the race, “I got the opportunity and I made the most of it. When I took the points during the time trial, and then getting
the maximum points during the break on Stage 4, I was pretty committed to winning it.”
Which is why he found
himself once again in the break on Stage 5. “Luck was definitely on my side to make it into the break again,” Louder
said. “Once I got up there I had to check myself because I wasn’t feeling great after being in the break the day
before. I was more conservative than usual. There was a lot of attacking in the final 25 km and I had to be attentive. But
sometimes the best days come on days you don’t feel as good.”
This was Louder’s last race for Health Net Presented by Maxxis. “It was good to go out this way,” he
said. “I won the jersey for the guys to repay them for the work they did for me this year.” He added that, “This
was the most enjoyable season of my eight years as a pro.”
Dominguez also won the sprinters jersey
Winning the Edward Jones Sprint Points jersey wasn’t exactly on Ivan Dominguez’s “to-do” list for
the Tour of Missouri, but the Cuban sprint sensation was happy to take the green fleece home with him.
Dominguez came
into the final stage tied on points with Luciano Pagliarini (Prodir-Saunier Duval). But Dominguez’s third-place finish
in the first of three intermediate sprints put him in the lead.
Dominguez’s eventual win – worth 15 points
– wrapped up the title.
