September 10/09 11:31 am - Tour of Missouri: Stage 3 report, interviews and results

Posted by Editoress on 09/10/09
 

Norwegian "God of Thunder" Storms to Stage 3 Win and Yellow Jersey at 2009 Tour of Missouri

In a chaotic sprint after a day of serpentine climbing, sprinter Thor Hushovd (Cervelo Test Team) edged out Juan Jose Haedo (Saxo Bank) for the Stage 3, presented by Emerson, win today at the Tour of Missouri. Argentina's Haedo crossed the line with Italy's Dario Cataldo (Quick Step), both two/tenths of a second behind Hushovd. Hushovd finished in 4 hours, 26 minutes, 50.4 seconds.

The win put the Norwegian "God of Thunder" in a virtual tie for the overall lead with Mark Cavendish (Columbia-HTC), who had worn the Missouri Tourism Leader's Jersey for the first two days of the race. In the general classification (G.C.), both riders have a time of 11.27'19" after three days of racing. Hushovd will take over the Missouri Tourism Leader's Jersey based on the aggregate of place finishes. Cavendish finished fifth on today's stage.

"It's always good to be in yellow and first of all I'm more happy to win a stage because of course it's confusing to get beaten by Cavendish every time, so I'm really happy to win. For me it was a perfect final, and all my teammates on Cervelo Test Team, they did a really great job," said Hushovd, who won the prestigious green sprinter's jersey as the Points Classification leader in the 2009 Tour de France. "When we have yellow jersey we have more responsibility. Tomorrow we see what we can do; we do our best to keep this jersey for as long as possible."

Today's Stage 3, presented by Emerson, was the longest and most hilly stage in this year's Tour of Missouri, covering 112.4 miles (180.9 km). The field of 116 riders stayed intact, climbing more than 7,000 feet through the Saint Francois Mountains.

With no more than 10 kilometers covered outside of the start host city of Farmington, Garmin-Slipstream launched an attack of two American riders, Will Frischkorn and Michael Friedman. They were joined just before the first Michelob Ultra King of the Mountain climb, a five kilometer ascent with numerous switchbacks on Missouri Highway 32, by Team Type I Australian climber Matt Wilson. Frischkorn was dropped with close to 13 miles to go. Friedman and Wilson worked together into Rolla, and were caught by a storming peloton with five miles to go to the finish in the picturesque Meramec Valley Region.

With the Stage 3 win today, Thor Hushovd also takes over the Edward Jones Sprint jersey from Cavendish. The 23-year-old British rider will wear the 180 Energy/Icelandic Glacial Water Best Young Rider jersey in tomorrow's stage. For his attacks to win all three KOM climbs, Wilson will wear the Drury Hotels Most Aggressive Rider jersey tomorrow. Moises Aldape (Team Type I) of Mexico will continue wearing the Michelob Ultra KOM jersey.

New to the Top 10 in the G.C. are Friedman (in sixth) and Cataldo (seventh). Current Australian national time trial champion Michael Rogers (Columbia-HTC) is in ninth, 17 seconds back. There are 70 riders who are 20 seconds off the lead, including 2007 Tour of Missouri champion George Hincapie (Columbia-HTC), 2009 Amgen Tour of California champion Levi Leipheimer (Team Astana), and four-time U.S. Professional Time Trial champion David Zabriskie (Garmin-Slipstream).

Hushovd received a custom crystal and wood trophy from Kent's Jewelry and bonus prize money from stage sponsor Brewer Science, Inc. today. The $10,000 bonus prize purse for the Top 3 stage finishers made the day's event the richest stage in the history of the Tour of Missouri.

"It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to present the yellow jersey. It was the best finish I've ever seen anywhere in the world," said Dr. Terry Brewer of Brewer Science Inc., one of the top sponsors for the Rolla host city.

Tour of Missouri report

Amy Smolens interviews

Before the Stage 3 start in Farmington, Missouri, I spoke to the always polite Michael Barry outside the Team Columbia bus:

Pre-race - Michael Barry - Team Columbia, team of Overall Leader after 2 stages, Mark Cavendish

Amy Smolens: Hi, how are you doing?

Michael Barry: Good, and you?

AS: Fine, thanks! So the last couple of stages I've seen you hammering at the front most of the day working for a Mark Cavendish victory. Has it been a pretty tough few days?

MB: Yeah, we've spent probably almost 300 kilometres on the front so far (laughs!) Yeah, it's good, we've obviously had a lot of success so far and the team's working well together.

AS: How does today's profile compare to yesterday's?

MB: I think it's quite similar to yesterday's stage. It really depends on how the peloton races it today. If we race it like we did last year, where our team was attacking the whole time, which we won't be doing this year, it'll be a really hard stage if the other teams keep attacking consistently the whole day. But if the race is controlled then I don't think it'll be that bad.

AS: It's a totally different stage, but we finish in Rolla, where you won the stage last year. Does it bring back good memories and are you thinking of a repeat?

MB: Sure, there are really great memories! I don't know - well, if I have the opportunity to get in a breakaway and we go up the road then sure, I'll go for it, but the main priority right now is just working for Mark and he has a chance at winning the stage again and keeping the (Yellow) Jersey so that's the goal.

AS: I've been reading rumours about where you're going to be riding next year - can you telll us yet?

MB: (Big smile) Not yet, nope, next week!

AS: Oh, next week?

MB: Yeah, next week!

AS: Ok, thanks, good luck today.

MB: Thanks.


Well, Michael Barry didn't win today's stage into Rolla, and surprisingly, neither did his teammate Mark Cavendish. Thor Hushovd not only won the sprint, but took the Yellow Jersey. Team Planet Energy ended its string of fine 5th place finishes, with Keven Lacombe's 14th on the stage being the squad's top result. I spoke to Keven by the team van:

Post-race, Keven Lacombe - Planet Energy - 14th place in Stage 3

Amy Smolens: What happened in today's final sprint. Were you trying to fight to get on Cavendish's wheel?

Keven Lacombe: Yeah, it was a really hard finish with many climbs. I think everybody, each team was fighting to be in front and because of that everybody lost each other and it was really hard. We got screwed up with one kilometre to go and it was too late to do well.

AS: Today and yesterday were undulating profiles. Has the accumulation of climbing tired you out?

KL: Yeah sure, everybody's starting to get more tired, each team is starting to feel the race but it's the same for everybody so we're just going to try to do better tomorrow and day after day.

AS: Tomorrow's another stage that should end in a sprint so another chance for you or Martin Gilbert to place well. What have you learned from those two finishes to improve your result tomorrow?

KL: I think tomorrow it's one of the stages that's good for us for the sprint, it finishes with a kind of climb at the end so I think we have a good chance to do well there. I think Columbia's starting to get tired, they are in front all the race so we're just going to try to do our best and take the chance if we can do something good.

AS: Two 5th places for Martin, François Parisien in the break all day yesterday, are you happy with your team's performance so far?

KL: Yeah, I think since the beginning we've performed well. Our goal is to win a stage, we've gotten 5th two times but we're still going to try to win one stage.

AS: Thanks so much.

KL: Thanks.


When I arrived at Zeno's Motel & Steakhouse in Rolla, where I'm staying tonight, I saw the Bissell Pro Cycling mechanics busily working on the team bikes. I wandered around the parking lot and noticed the team's Director, three-time Canadian Olympian Eric Wohlberg, riding a turbotrainer in Room 38 with the door wide open. I asked if he'd take a couple of minutes and talk with me as he rode and he happily obliged:

Post-race, Eric Wohlberg - Director, Bissell Pro Cycling

Amy Smolens: So Eric, you're retired but apparently you're still training.

Eric Wohlberg: (Big laugh) Yeah, just burning up the stress!

AS: And how do you pass the time while you're riding the trainer?

EW: I watch vintage TNT Snowmobile races on YouTube. Pretty pathetic!

AS: No bike races?

EW: No bike racing, no.

AS: So how do you like directing a team?

EW: It's been good! It's been a bit of a change, brought on some new challenges and stuff like that. But it's nothing totally new. I've had to be hands-on quite a bit with some of the other teams I've ridden with. So it's actually good - I've been on good teams, I've been on bad teams so I know what needs to be done for the riders.

AS: How did you ended up connecting with the Bissell Pro Cycling team?

EW: Glen (Mitchell, Team Manager) and I have got a great history over the years, going back to Team Shaklee and then racing in the Sun Tour and the Southland Tour (stage races in Australia.) I was always clearly the better rider of the two so I thought he'd kind of bring me on, sweep things up for Bissell here (note: Mitchell was sitting there in the room listening.)

AS: So you can be his assistant like he was your assistant when you were racing?

EW: (Laughs) Yeah.... No, Glen's really toeing the line there, he's doing great things with all the sponsors and stuff and making things easy for me on the road, it's cool.

AS: I look down the team roster and see top time triallsts like Tom Zirbel and Ben Jacques-Maynes. Is that a perfect fit for you?

EW: Well, I wouldn't just say that, we have a bunch of guys who are solid across the board. I mean the team does have a really strong Time Trial history, but we're working on trying to make us stronger in the other disciplines of cycling, too.

AS: You're right, Tom's been doing pretty well in stage races this season. How do you feel that he and Ben are set up for Friday's Time Trial, which is the crucial day?

EW: I wasn't in the car today, Glen and I have been switching off a bit, but it sounds like the race was really surprisingly controlled again. You know, for us coming into big field finishes, that's not really the absolute best thing for us right now. We want to send a couple of guys and see how things shake out in the Time Trial. Unfortunately that's leaving it until pretty late to go, but this race can flip around at any point in time.

AS: Most importantly, what are you watching on your computer now?

EW: This is Ski-Doo Wheelies, shot in Sweden somewhere.

AS: How do you find this stuff?

EW: Boredom (big laugh) - that's about it.

AS: You've been living in the Bay Area of California for some time now - what do you want to say to the folks back home in Canada?

EW: We need to get all sorts of Canadians out there training in the Bay Area and hiring me as a personal coach, and I'll get them on some good training rides out there!

AS: Sounds good. Oh, that reminds me - do you know Daniel Martin? I did an interview with him a while back after he won the National Championship.

EW: Yeah, I saw that actually, that was a great interview. I ride with Dan a lot. He works down in the Mountain View/San Jose area so we do some rides on weekends together, midweek in winter. We might do a midweek training race together, too. Very strong guy, very incredible.

AS: And our moto cameraman here at the Tour of Missouri, Gregg Betonte, is Dan's teammate with Safeway so it all comes full circle.

EW: Oh, I saw a guy right outside my door here with a Safeway shirt on, so I figured it must be a local guy here.

AS: Yeah, that's Dan's teammate.

EW: Cool!

AS: Thanks for your time!

EW: No worries!