tour of missouri missle launch

Crowds in St. Louis may not have been as large for the opening stage as they were for last year's closing stage but they had lots to do in the Market Street area where the race began and ended. Live music. The City Garden art park. Plus racing from the 2nd turn and on to the end.

There was an early break, no surprise there, just as there was no surprise that the peleton left the 3 riders off the front (Chris Anker Soerensen, Saxo Bank; Tomas Vaitkus, Astana; and Moises Aldape Chavez, Team Type 1) have a show of it until the last 3 km. Then, as scripted, the well-organized Columbia High Road team locked, loaded, and fired the Manx Missle, Mark Cavendish, over the line just ahead of frequent runnerups J.J. Haedo (Saxo Bank) and Thor Hushvold (Cervelo Test Team). When asked when he realized he had the race won, Cavendish replied in typical fastest-man-in-the-world style, "as soon as I awoke this morning."