In the course of a year, the state of Missouri has had a front-row seat in the growth and maturation of the American professional cycling team owned by Slipstream Sports.

A year ago at the inaugural Tour of Missouri, Slipstream-Chipotle celebrated its coming out party as a big-time player in pro cycling, winning the team title and placing Will Frischkorn on the podium as the runner up to race-winner George Hincapie.

This year, racing as Garmin-Chipotle in the backyard of its Kansas-based sponsor, the team punctuated its breakout season by making the ToM its own, with its first major stage-race win.

Christian VandeVelde succeeded Hincapie in the yellow leader’s jersey, thanks in no small part to his Garmin-Chipotle teammates who grew by leaps and bounds in defending VandeVelde’s position.

“The team has grown 10-fold this week,” said VandeVelde, who beat Columbia’s Michael Rogers by 18 seconds. “We have guys who have never ridden in defense of a leader’s jersey before. It was a great growing experience. We got better and better.”

For all of the team’s breakthroughs this year – the team time trial win and VandeVelde in the maglia rosa for a day at the Giro d’Italia, and VdV’s fifth-place finish at the Tour de France – the one thing missing from the team’s palmares had been a G.C. victory.

The team came close at the Tour de Georgia, but a miscalculation on the decisive climb of Brasstown Bald allowed Konstantin Sivtsov to steal the yellow jersey on the penultimate stage. Frischkorn and Pate came close to stage wins at the Tour de France, and then Blake Caldwell lost in a photo finish to Rock Racing’s Tyler Hamilton at the U.S. Pro Championships.

After those close-but-no-cigars, some began to wonder whether Garmin-Chipotle had the kutzpah to close the deal, but the second Tour of Missouri put that issue to rest, with Garmin-Chipotle under the gun from the moment VandeVelde took the yellow jersey Wednesday in Branson.

VdV won the 18-mile uphill time trial in Stage 3 and went into Stage 4 with a 21-second lead over Rogers and a monstrous target on his back and the best team in the world taking aim. Columbia has won more than races this season and is the No. 1 ranked team in the UCI rankings, and the team went after VandeVelde and Garmin with abandoned.

“When Columbia threw it down, it was impressive,” VandeVelde said. “With pros like Michael Rogers and George Hincapie, I knew they’d throw everything at us.”

Garmin-Chipotle was up to the task, bending but not breaking in Columbia’s Stage 4 throwdown, in which Columbia’s pace-setting and attacks cracked the field and prompted 84 riders to cry uncle and form a groupetto – in Missouri, of all places, without a mountain in sight. Tho Rogers was able to steal three seconds back from VandeVelde in that stage, Tom Danielson was able to shephard VandeVelde relatively unscathed to the finish.

Then, in Stage 6, Columbia took one last shot at Garmin and VandeVelde, splitting the field in a crosswind as the peloton neared St. Charles, and then attacking with Hincapie and Barry in a dangerous move for Garmin. But Steven Cozza helped bring back that break and VandeVelde’s lead was secure.

“It’s a great win for the team,” said Garmin-Chipotle’s Danny Pate, who raced here last year as well. “Columbia was throwing all they had at us the last couple of days. We had our work cut out for us. It wasn’t easy. It was a really hard race and a really hard battle.”

Twas a really hard earned victory for sure, and a much needed one, too.

“This was a big stepping stone for us,” said VandeVelde, who had heard the whispers about the argyle bridesmaids. “This couldn’t have come at a better time. It’s a perfect way to end the season.”

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