“A little Tour de France”
The hills of Missouri have left an impression even on the veterans among the professional bike riders in the inaugural Tour of Missouri. And Stage 4 on Friday, a 133-mile jaunt from Lebanon to Columbia, left more than just an impression.
It left legs and lungs burning.
âThere was not a lot of flat road,” said HealthNet’s Jeff Louder, who is leading the king of the mountain competition. âIt’s very undulating. These are hills, not mountains … but that made it kind of harder. You have short little climbs and quick descents and then you’re going right back uphill. You don’t get a lot of recovery on the descents.”
The 17-mile per hour headwind from the north-northwest made conditions even more difficult for the riders.
âThat made climbing difficult … and made descents unpleasant, too,” Louder said. âThere was no coasting.”
Stage winner Luciano Pagliarini, a Brazilian on Pro Tour team Prodir-Saunier Duval, called the Tour of Missouri a âlittle Tour de France.”
âThis is a very, very good race,” he said. âI’ve been riding 10 years as a professional, and I’ve seen all the races … this is a big race, like Paris-Nice, the Tour of Switzerland and Tirreno-Adriatico. It’s like a little Tour de France.”
Discovery Channel’s George Hincapie, the overall leader and a veteran of 11 Tours de France, said Friday’s stage had âsome real leg burners. The distance was long, there were a lot of short and steep climbs. Today was similar to the stuff we do in Europe.”
Slipstream-Chipotle’s Steven Cozza, who is wearing the jersey given to the top young rider in the Tour, spent much of the day riding into the wind with the breakaway of 10 riders.
âIt was pretty tough, especially for the guys in the breakaway,” he said. âIt was a very tough course. For a race in America, we don’t do over 100 miles too often, especially this late in the season. You have to prepare mentally because you know you’re going to have a 5-hour day.”
Friday’s stage lasted 5 hours 7 minutes 52 seconds, so … despite the 133 miles, the 17 mph headwind, the undulating terrain and the burning legs and lungs, the peloton averaged 25.987 miles per hour … and all 106 starters made the time cut, including 89 who finished in the main group.
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