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Hincapie takes stage, lead at Tour of Missouri
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Barring a repeat of the bad luck that has periodically plagued George Hincapie the last couple years, the American is in solid position to win the overall title at the inaugural Tour of Missouri.
On Wednesday, the Discovery Channel rider was part of a 12-rider break that rolled off the front of the field early in the rolling 125.6-mile stage 2 run from Clinton to Springfield and never looked back. At the finish, when Hincapie darted out of the small pack to take the stage win, the trailing field was more than 14 minutes behind.
That means only Hincapie's 11 breakaway companions are now a threat in the GC of this six-stage, 600-mile race that finishes Sunday in St. Louis. And with an 18-mile time trial scheduled for Thursday, and a team that includes reigning Tour de France champion Alberto Contador and recently crowned U.S. national champion Levi Leipheimer at the ready to defend his newly acquired leader's jersey, this one is all but in the books for Big George as long as he doesn’t implode in the TT.
But recent bad luck has Hincapie a little gun shy. During the last two years crashes at Paris-Roubaix, the Eneco Tour and the Tour of California have left the Greenville, South Carolina resident wondering what could have been.
“[This race] is not wrapped up yet,” said a cautious Hincapie after his stage win. “There are really no time-trial specialists [in the 12-man group], but the guys seemed strong in the breakaway. I haven’t looked at the time-trial course yet, but I’ll look at it in the morning.”
Wednesday's stage was a near photocopy of stage 3 at April's Tour de Georgia when a 13-rider break escaped, built a 29:07 advantage, and propelled Discovery's Janez Brajkovic to the overall victory. The Discovery team may be going away after this season, but it's certainly not going quietly. Already this year America’s lone ProTour team has wracked up 36 total wins, and you can expect that number to increase in the coming days.
American Frank Pipp (Health Net-Maxxis) took second on stage 2 on another sunny day in Missouri, with Canadian Dominique Rollin (Kodak Gallery-Sierra Nevada) in third. The top three, along with Slipstream's Mike Friedman and Will Frischkorn, BMC's Jonathan Garcia, Prodir-Saunier Duval's David Cañada, Team Sparkasse's Stefan Parinussa, Symmetrics Andrew Randell, Valeriy Kobzarenko (Navigators), Matt Rice (Jelly Belly) and Andrew Guptill (Colavita-Sutter Home) were part of the dozen riders that escaped 29 miles into the stage.
With 11 of the race's 15 teams represented in the move, it wasn't long before the gap ballooned. Toyota-United, U.S. National, DFL-Cyclingnews and Tecos were the only teams to miss the break, and only Toyota-United had any serious chance of bringing it back. But after Ivan Dominguez's stage win on Tuesday, and then a crash by top GC rider Chris Baldwin on Wednesday, there was only so much the boys in red, white and blue could do.
“When the break went up the road, we immediately had five guys on the front,” said Toyota-United’s Chris Wherry. “Only one other team was helping us and their guys blew up pretty quickly, so we were left to do it. It wasn’t a good move for everybody because not every team had its top GC riders in there. We did what we could for a while, but no other teams wanted to help us. So it was basically us against 11 other teams. Eventually we called it quits and hoped some teams would organize after that. It just didn’t happen.”
Indeed, there was no bringing this escape back, as their advantage topped 17 minutes at one point before settling into the 15-minute range. The lead group stayed together all the way into Springfield, where a pair of 2-mile circuits awaited. The first lap was a reconnaissance mission, with the group continuing to work together. But the attacking came quickly on lap 2 with Slipstream's Frischkorn the most aggressive, darting away on several occasions, hoping to either escape on his own, or tire his chasers enough to set up teammate Friedman.
But there's a reason Hincapie has ridden alongside eight Tour de France winners, won two U.S. national titles and a Tour stage. The lanky American ProTour rider was clearly the strongest among a group that was filled out by continental pros. After the final attack was neutralized, he shot off the front easily holding off Pipp and Rollin.
“The line came up pretty quick,” Pipp said of the gentle curve into the finish. “There were a lot of attacks towards the end. The decisive attack was about 300-400 meters out from the Symmetrics guys. [Mike] Friedman caught up to that. George was on him, and I was on George. George just got the line faster.”
Next up at the Tour of Missouri is stage 3's 18-mile time trial in the famous tourist town of Branson. The course is littered with small risers and finishes with short climb. Hincapie will be the clear favorite among the 12 riders who made the break Wednesday, but Missouri native Brad Huff believes Slipstream teammate Friedman has at least a puncher’s chance.
“He was telling me yesterday that he was on fire,” said Huff of Friedman who was ninth in this year’s U.S. national time trial championships and fourth a year earlier. “He could pull something out and really surprise some people in the time trial. When’s he’s focused and motivated he can go really fast.”
Race notes
Missouri native Dan Schmatz was hoping to pull off a result in the first running of his home state race, but instead he ended up in the hospital after being involved in a multi-rider pile-up that began when one of the riders ran over an armadillo at the seven-mile mark of the 125.6-mile stage. After the race it was reported that the BMC rider had broken his collarbone. Others dropping out included Toyota-United’s Ivan Stevic, who succumbed to the same recurring knee pain that sidelined him in parts of July and August. There are now 112 riders left in a field that started with 116.
Results, Stage 2
1. George Hincapie (USA), Discovery Channel Professional Cycling, 4:35:26
2. Frank Pipp (USA), Health Net Presented By Maxxis, 4:35:26
3. Dominique Rollin (CAN), KodakGallery Pro Cycling p/b Sierra Nevada Brewing, 4:35:26
4. Michael Friedman (USA), Team Slipstream Powered By Chipotle, 4:35:26
5. Stefan Parinussa (G), Team Sparkasse, 4:35:26
6. Valeriy Kobzarenko (Ukr), Navigators Insurance Cycling Team, 4:35:26
7. David Canada (Sp), Prodir-Saunier Duval, 4:35:26
8. Andrew Guptill (USA), Colavita/Sutter Home p/b Cooking Light, 4:35:26
9. Andrew Randell (CAN), Symmetrics Cycling Team, 4:35:26
10. William Frischkorn (USA), Team Slipstream Powered By Chipotle, 4:36:05
Overall, after Stage 2
1. George Hincapie (USA), Discovery Channel Professional Cycling, 7.40'50"
2. Dominique Rollin (CAN), KodakGallery Pro Cycling p/b Sierra Nevada Brewing, 0:04
3. Frank Pipp (USA), Health Net Presented By Maxxis, 0:07
4. Valeriy Kobzarenko (Ukr), Navigators Insurance Cycling Team, 0:10
5. Stefan Parinussa (G), Team Sparkasse, 0:11
6. Andrew Guptill (USA), Colavita/Sutter Home p/b Cooking Light, 0:13
7. Michael Friedman (USA), Team Slipstream Powered By Chipotle, 0:13
8. David Canada (Sp), Prodir-Saunier Duval, 0:13
9. Andrew Randell (CAN), Symmetrics Cycling Team, 0:13
10. Matthew Rice (Aus), Jelly Belly Cycling Team, 0:52
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