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Cavendish wins first stage of Tour of Missouri

UPDATED: Here's some observations from Stage One of the 2008 Tour of Missouri.

• Britain's Mark Cavendish lived up to expections by winning today's Stage One , a 90-mine trek from St. Joseph to Kansas City. Garmin-Chipotle's Tyler Farrar gave him a go at the end, but Cavendish won the stage. In July, Cavendish won four stages of the Tour de France.
• Reports indicate there was a crash at the end of the race, but the riders who crossed the line are likely to be given the same time as Cavendish.
• Near the end of the race, one of the inflatable archways over the course nearly blew over. You can see video of that over at MyFox Kansas City. The story says one of the inflatable archways collapsed on some of the riders. It didn't appear that way to me, although it clearly slowed down the peloton in Kansas City. No one appeared to be hurt and the mishap didn't seem to slow down the leaders.
• The riders battled a cross wind for the first half of the race and a driving rain in the middle third, which split the group into two. Clearly, it stayed windy at the end of the race, as evidenced by the blowing archway.
• Brooke Miller, the defending U.S. road and crit national champion, won the Tour of Missouri women's criterium race, which was run in Kansas City before the men charged toward the finish line.
  
• The Kansas City Star published an attractive preview of the Tour of Missouri, and you can download a PDF of the spread.
  
• Tomorrow, Stage Two takes the cyclists 126 miles from Clinton to Springfield. It was during this stage last year that George Hincapie took off as part of a big breakway to take the overall lead for the rest of the race. Hincapie solidified that lead with a strong time trial performance in Branson, and the Discovery Channel team was able to control the race the rest of the way.
  

Labels: Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments 4:01 PM