Farrar, Danielson, Pate, Caldwell Missouri stage 2Tyler Farrar, Tom Danielson, Danny Pate and Blake Caldwell lead the Argyle Armada during stage 2 of the Tour of Missouri.

As the peloton rolled to the start line today, it was obvious that most of us were wishing for a few more hours of sleep. With a two-hour transfer from Kansas City to the start in Clinton, MO, it was an early morning for sure. However, as soon as the starting gun was fired, we were back in to race mode fighting for position in the slight crosswind.

A group of five eventually snuck past the Team Columbia patrol. With no GC threats up the road, Columbia literally barricaded the narrow road by riding side by side. That was that and we settled in for the next 150 km of steady riding. When we finally made it to the last 50 km, things really started to pick up. Columbia, Liquigas, Sparkasse and our entire team were fighting to keep our sprinters in the front and out of trouble. It got really dicey as we entered town and caught the remaining escapees.

Several riders went down in a crash right before the finishing circuits, taking Tom Danielson down too. He was back on the bike right away and made it back to the peloton. On the final circuits, the team kept Tyler in position. Through the final corner, 800 meters out, he was once again sitting behind Cavendish. Christian was on the front keeping the field pegged at top-speed. A few riders dove inside the corner, mixing it up a bit, but Tyler came around for another fine result. 4th place this time.

Immediately after the stage, we headed for the team bus to start the recover process as quickly as possible for tomorrow’s important stage. I must say that we are incredibly lucky to travel around in this beast of a vehicle with 12 bunks for us to lay down in during the long transfers.

Tomorrow is the big one: the Branson time trial. With our team of strong time trialists, things are looking good for us. We want that leader’s jersey tomorrow afternoon!

Team Garmin-Chipotle stage results
1. Mark Cavendish 4h53′19″
4. Tyler Farrar +00″
15. Danny Pate +00″
23. Christian Vande Velde +00″
24. Tom Danielson +00″
26. Blake Caldwell +00″
42. Steven Cozza +00″
47. Daniel Holloway +00″
54. David Zabriskie +11″

Team Garmin-Chipotle GC
1. Mark Cavendish 8h08′13″
4. Tyler Farrar +14″
14. Danny Pate +20″
24. Christian Vande Velde +20″
25. Daniel Holloway +20″
28. Blake Caldwell +20″
31. Steven Cozza +20″
36. Tom Danielson +20″
74. Dave Zabriskie +31″

Sprint Points Classification
1. Mark Cavendish 30 pts
2. Francesco Chicchi 20 pts
3. Tyler Farrar 19 pts

Team Classification
1. Team Garmin-Chipotle H3O 24h25′39″
2. Rabobank
3. Team Columbia