RACE REPORTS: TOUR OF MISSOURI STAGE 7: GILBERT THE STAGE, ZABRISKIE THE OVERALL

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RACE REPORTS: TOUR OF MISSOURI STAGE 7: GILBERT THE STAGE, ZABRISKIE THE OVERALL
Road Bike Action
September 13, 2009

Zabriskie wins the Tour of Missouri
(Photo: Mitchell Clinton)

Martin Gilbert (Planet Energy) came from no where to win the seventh and final stage of the Tour of Missouri. The Canadian rider out kicked Andrew Pinfold (OUCH p/b Maxxis) and Thor Hushovd (Cervélo) to take the biggest victory of his career.

David Zabriskie (Garmin-Slipstream) took the overall title, the first stage race victory of his career. Zabriskie captured the overall lead after a dominating performance in the stage five time trial. His performance in the time trial gave him a 30-second advantage over Gustav Larsson (Saxo Bank), while the battle for third place was won by Marco Pinotti (Columbia-HTC) when he won the first intermediate time bonus in today's stage. The time bonus allowed him to jump over Tom Zirbel (Bissell) in the general classification. In the KOM competition Moises Aldape (Team Type 1) took the top prize, while Thor Hushovd captured the points jersey for best sprinter. Finally, the best young rider competition went to Dario Cataldo of Quick Step.

Today's final stage was aggressive with riders attacking throughout the early part of the race. It wasn't until lap three that a break containing Nicki Sorensen (Saxo Bank) Chris Jones (Team Type 1) and Gregory Rast (Astana) went clear. The trio was later joined by the Saxo Bank duo of Jason McCartney and Chris Anker Sorensen. Finally Michael Barry (Columbia-HTC) bridged the 30-second gap with two laps remaining.

With 15-kilometers to race, Rast was dropped as the peloton began to reel the break in. The remaining five riders survived until 6-kilometers to go when they were finally caught. It was then Michael Rogers (Columbia-HTC) that attempted a solo move for the stage victory. Addy Engels (Quick Step) managed to catch Rogers before launching his own bid for victory. Despite Engels' aggression the was brought back in time for the sprinters to fight out the stage. In the final run for the line it was little known Gilbert that came up big and took the win.

Tour of Missouri Stage 7, 116km
1. Martin Gilbert (Can/Planet Energy)
2. Andrew Pinfold (Can/OUCH p/b Maxxis)
3. Thor Hushovd (Nor/Cervelo)
4. Bernhard Eisel (Aut/Team Columbia-HTC)
5. Kyle Wamsley (USA/Colavita/Sutter Home)

Final General Classification
1. David Zabriskie (USA/Garmin-Slipstream)
2. Gustav Larsson (Swe/Team Saxo Bank)
3. Marco Pinotti (Ita/Team Columbia-HTC)
4. Tom Zirbel (USA/Bissell Pro Cycling)
5. Dario Cataldo (Ita/Quick Step)

Complete results to come.

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