Welp, ol’ 10 Speed picked Garmin-Chipotle’s David Zabriskie to win the 18-mile uphill time trial in Stage 3, and hence the Tour of Missouri, so I’m gonna stick with my pick for Wednesday’s stage

(Just to be certain, I asked Garmin-Chipotle director sportif Jonathan Vaughters whether I had gone too far out on a limb by picking the Z-man, and he assured me I had not.)

Zabriskie will wear the stars and stripes jersey as the U.S. TT champ, a title he has won four times overall and the past three years in a row, so he’s the clear favorite. But competition will come from within his own team bus — Christian Vande Velde and Danny Pate — along with the powerful Columbia team, with defending ToM champ Big George Hincapie, Michael Rogers and Italian TT champ Marco Pinotti.

Other riders to watch in the TT include: Bissell’s Tom Zirbel, second to Zabriskie in the U.S. TT championships; Svein Tuft of Symmetrics; and Roman Krueziger and Vinceno Nibali of the Liquigas boys.

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