– St. Charles turned out in force to support the Tour of Missouri, lining Riverside Drive to the finishing line. The crowd in St. Charles rivaled the turnout in Country Club Plaza for the start and finish of Stage 1 Tuesday in Kansas City. The big question: How will St. Louis match up on Sunday? The pressure is on for St. Louis to match and surpass not only Kansas City, but St. Charles as well.

– The 126-mile route from Jefferson City to St. Charles took the peloton past prime farmland along the Missouri River, with a few farmers out harvesting the corn crop on Saturday. Discovery Channel rider Yaroslav Popovich got a surprise in his mussette in the feed zone - a dry  ear of corn.

– Toyota-United lost another rider Saturday when Chris Baldwin couldn’t start. Baldwin’s left knee his been hurting since a pair of crashes Wednesday in Stage 2. T-U is down to four riders, the fewest of any team. Josh Thornton of Kodak Gallery-Sierra Nevada also did not start. In all, 11 riders have left the race, reducing the number of competitors to 104.

– Springfield’s Brad Huff of Slipstream-Chipotle jumped into an early breakaway in Stage 5, but that breakaway was reeled in a couple of kilometers down the road. Slipstream-Chipotle has been talking up getting a stage win for Huff, but after team leader Danny Pate got into the subsequent breakaway Saturday, the team had no incentive to chase it. And it turned out no one was going to catch Pate anyway. Pate broke away from the breakaway group with about 3K remaining, and he won by 8 seconds over John Fredy Parra of Tecos.

– Watch out for Huff again on Sunday in Stage 6, the 10 lap circuit starting and finishing at Union Station. Slipstream-Chipotle may make a move to the front of the peloton to set up Huff for the sprint finish. Also watch out for Toyota-United’s Ivan Dominguez, the winner in Stage 1 Tuesday in Kansas City, and Prodir-Saunier Duval’s Luciano Pagliarini, the winner in Stage 4 Friday in Columbia.

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