First, a link to a new Velonews.com Journal.

Missouri is under way and the first stage was snagged in a mad dash by Toyota-United’s Ivan Dominguez. With wide open roads and a short stage there were a lot of fresh legs out there and nobody had the numbers or HP to lead things out for more than a few K. A couple of late solo attacks further confused the end and a slightly downhill run in to the last 2 corners made for a really, really, really fast last few K; think at one point I looked down and saw 80kph. Brad hung on for 6th, amazing considering his position with 1000 to go, and hopefully we can pull it together for him in one of the sprint stages still ahead.

For a first year race things seem pretty dialed and it’s exciting for all of us to have another quality stage race on US soil. Surprisingly large crowds all day long and nice roads made for an ideal first stage. Tomorrow is a good bit longer, 205ish, and should begin sorting things out a bit before Thursday’s hilly TT.