THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Pate earns Tour of Missouri stage win, Hincapie on track for overall title
In a symbolic sign of the times, Slipstream’s Danny Pate launched a brave solo attack inside a kilometer to go and held it all the way to the line, taking victory in stage 5 of the Tour of Missouri Saturday. Pate’s triumph is arguably the biggest win in the short history of the Boulder, Colorado-based team that is poised to take over the mantel of American cycling following the imminent demise of Discovery Channel.
It also added icing to what is already the team’s best showing at a major stage race. Barring the unforeseen on the event’s closing day, Slipstream will walk away with two top 5 GC placings, a stage win, first place in the team classification and the best young rider’s jersey.
“Danny is core to the team,” said Slipstream director Jonathan Vaughters, whose squad will make a run at a Tour de France wild card berth in 2008. “The riders that are at Missouri are the ones that have earned there way onto next year's team by embracing our work ethic and sometimes crazy tactics. But you can see, it took 3 years, but now it’s working pretty damn well.”
Pate was part of a nine-rider group that spent more than 100 miles off the front during the 126.8-mile run from Jefferson City to St. Charles. The American chased down a late move by fellow escapees Matti Helminen (DFL-Cyclingnews) and Bernardo Colex (Tecos), then dropped his head, and charged to the line, unleashing the exceptional time trialing abilities that brought him the world under-23 TT title in 2001, and a second place finish at the recently completed U.S. national championships in Greenville, South Carolina, where he finished just one second behind teammate-to-be David Zabriskie. He finished the stage in 4:50:21.
“It’s great to get a win finally,” said Pate whose last triumph came a year ago in stage 4 at the Tour de Beauce. “I’ve been riding well for a while now, and was probably stronger a week ago, but sometimes you get a break when you don’t expect to, when you least want to be in the break. I was wanting to go back to the field, but no one wanted to chase so we went all the way to the line, and I got lucky to get the win. Any win means a lot because they are hard to come by.”
Colombian John Freddy Parra (Tecos) led the rest of the break across the line, finishing eight seconds back of Pate, with American Jeff Louder (Health Net-Maxxis) in third. Earlier in the day Louder wrapped up the King of the Mountains competition, taking first place points at the day’s first categorized climb.
In the chase for the overall George Hincapie maintained his place atop the GC. The American leads Will Frischkorn (Slipstream) by 1:40, with Spaniard David Cañada (Prodir-Saunier Duval) third at 2:22. Unless something catastrophic occurs, Hincapie will be crowned winner of this six-stage, 562.2-mile race that finishes on Sunday in St. Louis. The Missouri tour marks Discovery’s final appearance on U.S. soil.
“It’s a good way to leave the peloton,” said team director Johan Bruyneel. “George has always been a key rider for this team. He’s had a difficult season, crashing and breaking his wrist at the Tour of California. But he worked really hard to come back. I think his form is increasing as we head towards the world championships.”
All three of the top three, plus most of the rest of the field, rolled in 2:26 behind Pate, with Charles Dionne (Colavita-Sutter Home) leading the bunch home and taking the final sprint points on offer. That meant Ivan Dominguez (Toyota-United) and Luciano Pagliarini (Prodir-Saunier Duval) remained tied with 25 points each in the chase for the sprinter’s jersey. That battle will be settled in during the 74.2-mile, seven-lap stage 6 circuit race.
There are points and time bonuses on offer at the end of second, fourth and sixth laps, plus the finish. In the unlikely event that Dominguez and Pagliarini remain tied, Dominguez would take the jersey based on his higher GC placing.
It will also be worth watching the battle for the final podium placing, where Cañada holds a slim one-second advantage over fourth-placed Dominique Rollin (KodakGallery-Sierra Nevada). Rollin is also an outside threat in the points chase. The Canadian is four points back of the leading duo.
Saturday’s prominent breakaway came together early in the stage when Pate, Parra, Louder, Colex, Helminen, Nicholas Reistad (Jelly Belly), Anthony Colby (Colavita-Sutter Home), Ian McKissick (BMC), Glen Chadwick (Navigators) and Pete Lopinto (KodakGallery-Sierra Gallery) joined forces.
With Pate the highest placed rider on GC, 15th at 14:27, Discovery was content to give the break a long leash, and it wasn’t long before the gap was rolling above four, five and finally six minutes. That set Louder up to take down the KoM crown, and he delivered, taking top points on the Highway 100 climb.
“It was essential for Health Net to get someone in the move, even if one of my teammates went up the road he could have taken the KoM,” explained Louder. “Of course it was ideal to have myself up in the move to get the points.”
Back in the field Hincapie and Discovery sat comfortably at the front, with reigning Tour de France champion Alberto Contador and newly crowned U.S. national road champion Levi Leipheimer making occasional trips back to the team car for bottles and food.
The break of 10 stayed together up and over the second KoM climb, but the pace on the final ascent was too much for Kodak’s Lopinto, who lost touch and drifted back to the main field. Colavita’s Colby took top points on both climbs, but it was Tecos rider Parra who made the loudest late-race noise. The Colombian took off on a solo flyer with about 30 miles to go, and managed to keep his pursuers at bay until the 10km-to-go mark.
Just as Parra was reeled in, teammate Colex took off with Finland’s Helminen tagging along for the ride. The pair quickly cracked open a 100-meter gap and it looked momentarily like they might stay away. But after failing on an earlier solo attempt to catch Parra, Pate would not be denied the second time around. He launched out of the remnants of the break, caught Colex and Helminen, then made his triumphant dash to the line.
“I was thinking for a while that the time gap was big enough and [the break was] going to make it [to the finish],” said Pate, about a chase that didn’t get organized until it was much too late. “There was a lot of attacking in last 12km, always someone in front. I had some good timing in getting away from the group up to the two guys. I’ve got a lot of race experience because of all the races I have done. I’ve been in a lot of breakaways.”
And indeed, the experience level of the entire Slipstream team is starting to show making it clear that American cycling is not going to drop off the radar when Discovery disbands.
"I know we're becoming the 'next big team,' but I want to make sure that everyone knows that what they saw from Danny today will be what we are about," team boss Vaughters said. "This team is not just crushing people with brute force. I think panache is the word... we're the Red Sox, not the Yankees."
Results, Stage 5
1. Danny Pate (USA), Slipstreame, 4:50:21
2. Fredy John Parra (Col), Tecos, 4:50:29
3. Jeff Louder (USA), Health Net, 4:50:29
4. Glen Chadwick (NZl), Navigators, 4:50:29
5. Anthony Colby (USA), Colavita/Sutter Home, 4:50:29
6. Matti Helminen (FIN), DFL-Cyclingnews-Litespeed, 4:50:29
7. Nicholas Reistad (USA), Jelly Belly, 4:50:29
8. Ian Mckissick (USA), BMC, 4:50:29
9. Bernardo Colex (MEX), Tecos, 4:50:51
10. Charles Dionne (CAN), Colavita/Sutter Home, 4:52:47
Overall, after Stage 5
1. George Hincapie (USA), Discovery, 18:23:13
2. William Frischkorn (USA), Slipstream, 1:40
3. David Canada (Sp), Prodir-Saunier Duval, 2:22
4. Dominique Rollin (CAN), KodakGallery, 2:23
5. Michael Friedman (USA), Slipstream, 2:48
6. Frank Pipp (USA), Health Net, 2:57
7. Valeriy Kobzarenko (Ukr), Navigators, 3:04
8. Andrew Randell (CAN), Symmetrics, 3:48
9. Stefan Parinussa (G), Sparkasse, 4:20
10. Matthew Rice (Aus), Jelly Belly, 6:21
Full ResultsTo see how today's stage developed, simply CLICK HERE to open our Live Update Window.
