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Thoughts about Stage 3

There were no really big surprises today during the Stage 3 time trial of the Tour of Missouri:

• Levi Leipheimer won the time trial by 16 seconds over Australia's Nathan O'Neill. Leipheimer, who finished third in this year's Tour de France, finished the time trial in 39 minutes, 37.48 seconds.
• George Hincapie finished the time trial in 41:44.07, solidifying his hold on the yellow jersey. Hincapie now leads fellow American William Frischkorn by 1:40. Barring a disaster, I see Hincapie wearing the yellow jersey on the podium in St. Louis.
• Initial reports indicate more good crowds at the start and finish of the time trial.
• Tour of Missouri cyclists and cycling writers are finding out what those of us who have ridden Missouri roads already know: The Show-Me State has hills. Cyclingnews.com describes tomorrow's stage this way: "One of the hardest stages looms tomorrow -- a 214 km leg with more of the same relentless rolling Missouri hills, two intermediate sprints and a (King of the Mountain) climb before finishing in the university town of Columbia."
• And Leipheimer has this to say in VeloNews about the Stage 3 course: "It was definitely a hard course. ... I don't know if you can call them climbs, compared to something like the Tour de Georgia where there was a steep wall. But they were definitely bigger than rollers."
• The St. Louis Post-Dispatch's 10-Speed Blog kicked into a higher gear Thursday with good posts about Dan Schmatz's crash with the armadillo, the podium girls and the Missouri Department of Transportation trucks that kept the cyclists safe on U.S. 65 in Branson.
  

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour of Missouri

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