As riders from Slipstream-Chipotle mingled with a few family, friends and fans in the teams’ parking lot  about a half-hour before the start of  the final stage in the Tour of Missouri  , the caravan of Discovery Channel rolled into the lot.

“Make a hole! This is Discovery,” a lot attendant barked.

Sure enough, teams, cyclists and fans complied, parting like the Red Sea for the Discovery RV and the team cars. Then after the RV and cars rolled to a stop, the sea surrounded the Discovery vehicles, leaving barely enough room for the RV door to open.

A couple hundred fans anxiously awaited the team’s cycling rock stars - George Hincapie, Levi Leipheimer, Alberto Contador, who signed autographs as team soigneurs ran interference and carved a thin space in front of them to roll their bikes through the crowd for the ride to the starting line.

Slipstream-Chipotle riders had no such difficulty, signing a few autographs here and there and riding away on their bikes with the ease of leaving their homes for a training ride.

The difference was striking, but times will change. Discovery Channel is going away after this season, and Slipstream-Chipotle will replace them as the No. 1 American cycling team, with aspirations but no guarantees of riding in Europe’s big Pro Tour races such as the Tour de France.

Next year, the big U.S. crowds may be around the Slipstream RV and team cars, the area where team members lounged in folding chairs and chatted with fans after the stages in the Tour of Missouri.

“Discovery, in this sport, is the one big team,” said Slipstream’s Timmy Duggan, who has been with the team since its inception in 2004 as a developmental team before it turned pro. “We’re going to slip into that spot. Hopefully, we’ll see that kind of attention.”

Hopefully? Really? With so many fans surrounding the Discovery area, there’s barely enough room for riders to leave the RV, much less for the team soigneurs to do their work and prepare the bikes for competition. While the fans have been well-behaved and respectful, they have been large in numbers, and that can be overwhelming and oppressive for those not used to the attention.

“It can be a distraction,” Navigators director sportif Ed Beamon said. “Even for a big team like Discovery, there’s accessibility (for the fans), but if you’re George Hincapie, or Levi Leipheimer, you need to have privacy to keep your focus.”

Slipstream-Chipotle riders seem ready to accept the challenge.

“It’s a good problem to have,” Duggan said.

The Tour of Missouri has been “something of a coming out party for our team,” according to Slipstream’s Will Frischkorn, who is second to George Hincapie in the overall classification. “It’s been as successful as any race we’ve been in.”

In addition to Frischkorn, Michael Friedman is fifth overall, Danny Pate won Stage 5 with a big acceleration with 2K remaining and Steven Cozza and Huub Duyn are one-two in the young rider competition.

The team has signed several big-name riders with Americans David Zabriskie, Christian Vandevelde and Tom Danielson, so their star power will increase both at races in Europe and races in the U.S.

“In Europe, (the attention) is a lot like this,” Frischkorn said, motioning to the crowd around Discovery.
“So, it won’t be a big change. It’ll be a welcome change in the U.S. Cycling is booming. It’s nice to step in (Discovery’s) slot. It’s great for us.”

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