All,
Hincapie got his last yellow jersey with Discovery on the front from the Tour of Missouri and Johan was there beside him along with the rest of the team for the last time in America. George commented that the team worked well for him all week and the only time he really had to test his legs was on Stages 2 & 3. He did comment that Slipstream rode strong and also admitted to being one of their sponsors. Will Frischkorn handled himself well during the tour and was rewarded for his efforts in the Stage 2 break with a 2nd place overall in the GC. Slipstream came out on top in the team GC which has got to be a huge boost for their morale as they move closer to the world stage in Europe next year.
It didn’t end smoothly for them though as their sprinter, Brad Huff, took a serious tumble in the last 50 meters. He was trying to make a move on the left side of the course just before it narrowed and didn’t have enough room. The results can be seen here: http://tinyurl.com/3xyonb.
When the photographer sweet talks her way as a passenger w/the officials in Comm 3 Car / race caravan following the racers there aren’t very many race pics, but she was dutiful after the race with the front and center position for the podium pics. I moved to back as they handed each one of the Slipstream guys a bottle of Missouri’s sparkling wine and each of the pool photographers retreated as well. She stood her ground as the young lads fumbled with the corks. Even more to her credit as a stray cork popped her on the forehead she stuck around and continued to shoot. As they sprayed her shirt with the wine she stood her ground. In the end though it was Mike Friedman who got most of the wine dumped on his head. You can see that Steven Cozza learned how to play the media by this point in the tour as he, the best young rider, was looking at the camera in the shot.
For some reason I really thought they would shoot the champagne up high into the crowd or only on each other, and to the kids credit, I think his cork ejected before he intended – he was still fumbling with the metal cap, holding the bottle against his hip, parallel to the ground and the whole thing just went, and just happened to be aimed at my right ribcage. From what I could tell from the look on his face, he was as surprised as I as and laughter ensued. Kids! ;>)
The final Jersey standings were this:
GC, 1st place George H, 2nd Will Frischkorn, Slipstream, 3rd Dominique Rollin, Sierra Nevada – Kodak
Yellow Tour Lead – Georgie
Green Sprinters: Ivan Dominguez, Toyota United
Polka Dot KOM: Jeff Louder, Maxxis Healthnet
Blue Best Young Rider : Steven Cozza, Slipstream
Most Aggressive #51, John Fredy Parra, Team Tecos
Ciao,
Michael V. & Paula F.