Race Diary - Tour of Missouri, Stage 7
By Neil Shirley, Kelly Benefit Strategies
The final day of Tour of Missouri was a circuit race with 7, 10-mile laps in downtown Kansas City. Each lap had 1,000 feet of climbing with two KOM climbs per lap. After driving the course it was looked like this would be the hardest climbing stage of the race. With the GC battle still so close Garmin was really going to be put to the test. Our team plan for the day was for Bajadali, Bowman, Zwizanski and myself to be attentive and make the selection that we anticipated would happen on the climbs. We figured if it were a sprint finish it would only be a group of 30-40 guys.
The race got under way with the normal barrage of attacking. I was trying to be conservative early on and hoped to save as much as possible for later in the race. Astana and Saxo Bank were really putting the pressure on by constantly attacking Garmin. However, Garmin found a friend with Cervelo and the two teams smashed it on the front. Five riders managed to get a 20-second advantage but Garmin kept the gap pinned and made sure it didn’t get away from them. I would have loved to be in the move but the hardest part was being in position to get off the front. Even if your only 25-guys back it’s too far when the field is single file and flying along at 30-mph. Even though the race was super fast very few guys got dropped. A few of the sprinters were getting spit out the back but the overall depth of the field was impressive.
Coming into the last lap the break had been caught and it was looking like a field sprint. On the last KOM Hincapie attacked and I was able to scramble up to him and group of ten or so riders but it was too little too late and the field was able to shut it down before we had a chance to organize. The high speeds of the last couple of days were taking a toll on my legs and I didn’t have much left to get up to the front and help out Cando in the sprint. Cando finished up 10th. Zwizanski was able to hold onto his top-15 GC position but if it wasn’t for the time penalty he got earlier in the week he would have been 7th.
Although Tour of Missouri didn’t end up exactly how KBS or I had hoped it wasn’t exactly bad either. We had top-10 finishes on every stage except for one and a good GC finish by Zwizanski. The race ended up more sprint heavy than was anticipated and since we brought a stronger overall team we missed some of the needed horsepower for the sprints.
Monday I head back home to San Diego and relax for the week before heading out to the Vegas area for my last race of the season, Mt Charleston Hill Climb. If I’m really motivated this week I might go do Palomar a time or two so I can remember how to do a climb lasting longer than a few minutes. I’m bringing my wife and daughter with me to Mt Charleston for a fun weekend getaway and maybe a trip to the Vegas Strip Saturday night. After that I’ll be going non-stop for the next four weeks. First I’ll be head to Interbike then off to Oaxaca, Mexico for vacation with my family. One day after getting home from Mexico I go to Zambia, Africa with three teammates and a group from World Bicycle Relief. While in Zambia we will see first hand how bikes used as transportation have helped so many poor villagers receive medical treatment, education and a means to be more efficient with their time. I’m really excited to have this opportunity to see how a bike can change the lives of so many.
Thanks for reading,
Neil
