Zabriskie wins time trial, takes overall lead in Tour of Missouri
The three fastest cyclists in stage 5 of the Tour of Missouri individual time trials, from left, Gustav Larsson with Team Saxo Bank, second place; David Zabriskie with Garmin Slipstream, first place; and Tom Zirbel, with Bissell Pro Cycling, third place, celebrate their wins Friday, Sept. 11, 2009, in Sedalia, Mo. Sydney Brink | AP Photo
SEDALIA, Mo. - Dave Zabriskie of Garmin-Slipstream scorched the field in the time trial at the Tour of Missouri, taking first in the stage and the overall lead.
Zabriskie finished the 19-mile course in 36 minutes, 30.49 seconds, 30 seconds ahead of Gustav Larsson of Saxo Bank and 44 seconds ahead of Tom Zirbel of Bissell Cycling.
Zabriskie, a four-time U.S. time-trial champion and bronze medalist at last year’s world championships, also took over the yellow jersey as overall race leader. Much as it did last year for Christian VandeVelde, Garmin will have to ride at the front of the pack and try to defend the leader through the next two stages.
“I think the guys are really motivated,” Zabriskie said. “I don’t have to tell them anything. They know what to do.”
Zabriskie is the only American to wear the yellow jersey in all three European Grand Tours: the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a’Espana.
Its as if one guy falls, the other guys pick up the slack. There was a nice article in Bicyling Mag (Aug 2008) about them being all for one as a team. Better motivation example than those stupid Successories posters for sure.
Not only Zabriskie’s success in ToM, but then there’s the recent successes (plural, now) for Garmin in the Vuelta.
This is an exciting cap on the cycling season before Worlds. If BMC and Radio Shack get wild cards next year, there could be a record four U.S.-based teams (Columbia, Garmin) in the 2010 grand tours. That says as much about the emergence and strength of U.S. riders as it does about U.S. sponsors willing to support the sport of cycling. It’s as great to see seasoned pros like Levi, Hincapie, VandeVelde and Armstrong still going strong while the next wave (Zabriskie, Zirbel) are in their prime and the new kids (Farrar and Phinney) start to make waves. And we don’t even know the U.S. squad for Worlds yet.