Today’s stage 5 in the Tour of Missouri was as mellow as yesterday’s stage was crazy fast. The peloton was content to let the one significant break of the day - a 12-man group with no GC contenders - dangle off the front and scoop up the day’s intermediate sprint and KOM points.

With several other teams doing the chasing today, Team Garmin-Chipotle H3O had the opportunity to sit in most of the day, only going to the front for the finishing circuits in Jefferson City. Tyler Farrar came in 7th on the hard 300-meter uphill finish. Christian Vande Velde also made the front group, maintaining his 18″ gap on second place Michael Rogers of Columbia and increasing his lead on third place Svein Tuft by 5″.

“Today was a perfect combination for us. We didn’t do 1/10th the work that we did yesterday. So we’ll be more refreshed and ready to defend the jersey tomorrow,” said Christian. “Though we do expect to see a few sparks tomorrow from a number of teams.”

Team Garmin-Chipotle stage results
1. Boy van Poppel 3h48′42″
7. Tyler Farrar +00″
19. Christian Vande Velde +00″
24. Tom Danielson +05″
60. Danny Pate +13″
68. Daniel Holloway +22″
80. Dave Zabriskie +56″
81. Steven Cozza +59″

Team Garmin-Chipotle GC
1. Christian Vande Velde 15h53′55″
2. Michael Rogers +18″
3. Svein Tuft +48″
5. Tom Danielson +1′32″
24. Danny Pate +19′28″
28. David Zabriskie +20′08″
33. Steven Cozza +20′41″
37. Tyler Farrar +21′14″
47. Daniel Holloway +22′39″

Get your Tour of Missouri fix Garmin-style with this special highlight video produced by the multi-talented folks at Garmin.

Finishing in the yellow jersey group today, Peter Stetina maintained his time gap and position just behind race leader Jan Bakelants. Tomorrow’s penultimate stage 8, with three category 1 and 2 climbs and a mountain top finish on the category 1 Col de Latrape, will give Peter a chance to demonstrate his talents as one of cycling’s top young climbers and possibly take back the precious yellow leader’s jersey.

*Stay tuned for full GC results.*

Stage 7 results for American riders
1. Dominik Klemme (GER) 3h18′27″
20. Tejay Van Gaderen +17″
27. Peter Stetina +40″
36. Chris Barton +51″
40. Tom Peterson +58″
47. Kirk Carlsen +1′41″
51. Chad Beyer (USA) +1′56″

General classification for American riders
1. Jan Bakelants (BEL) 28h46′42″
2. Peter Stetina (USA) +1′39″
9. Tejay Van Gaderen +3′38″

*Team Garmin-Chipotle H3O and VMG/Felt riders in bold.*

Britain race report from DS Matt White

With an early break up the road, we decided to work with LPR to real it in. Trent (right) rode for 100 km on the front to keep the break within striking distance to give Julian a chance to go head to head with Petacchi. Then the rain came and so did the crashes.
Julian crashed 20 km to go and the race was split in pieces!

The final was dangerous and technical, and a split in the final saw Dan move into 3rd on GC! Tomorrow is a solid day and we will make the stage as hard as possible so Dan can attack and try to go clear. It will be our last chance to roll the dice!

David happily hanging with…JV? In Britain?

Dan Martin battles it out for the finish of the brutal stage 3 where he finished 4th and began his GC climb.

Quick race summary from our Irish super hero Dan Martin
It’s kind of cool to pick up some easy seconds today, as the team made a massive effort yesterday with no reward. Due to the nature of the race, it’s often won on time bonuses. To be honest, it’s extremely negative. Only our team seems willing (or maybe able) of attacking. And I always say the best form of defense is to attack.

I’m naturally aggressive and third for me is not good enough. Everyday I feel better, though I started the race not great at all. So hopefully that upward trend will continue tomorrow. We will give it everything to get that jersey. But first we have an epic 4-hour transfer to survive.

Team Garmin-Chipotle stage results
1. Alessandro Petacchi 3h45′09″
10. Chris Sutton +00″
12. Dan Martin +00″
43. Julian Dean +28″
61. Magnus Backstedt +2′16″
74. Trent Lowe +8′18″
75. David Millar +8′18″

Team Garmin-Chipotle GC
1. Geoffroy Lequarte 21h14′49″
3. Dan Martin +14″
16. Chris Sutton +1′59″
29. Julian Dean +13′00″
72. Trent Lowe +27′20″
73. Magnus Backstedt +27′28″
80. David Millar +33′27″

Team Garmin-Chipotle H3O worked to fight off relentless attacks from Team Columbia today on a crazy fast stage from Lebanon to Rolla, Missouri. Race leader Christian Vande Velde (above left and below) kept the Argyle Armada moving, eventually joining a breakaway of 20 along with Tom Danielson (above right) in the final run in to Rolla for the three tight finishing circuits. Christian attacked on the final circuit and finished third in the field sprint and fourth overall. Tom Danielson finished 13th and moved to 5th in the overall classification.

The day of hard rolling hills and intense attacks took its toll on the weary peloton. The main pack finished more than 18 minutes behind the front group, creating large time gaps in the GC. New sprint leader Eric Baumann of Sparkasse said that it was the fastest race he had done all year. The average speed for the 169 km race was 47 kph.

Team Garmin-Chipotle stage results
1. Michael Barry 3h16′03″
4. Christian Vande Velde +46″
13. Tom Danielson +49″
36. Daniel Holloway +18′37″
45. Tyler Farrar +18′37″
50. Steven Cozza +18′37″
100. Dave Zabriskie +18′37″
106. Danny Pate +18′37″

Team Garmin-Chipotle GC
1. Christian Vande Velde 12h05′13″
2. Michael Rogers +18″
3. Svein Tuft +43″
5. Tom Danielson +1′27″
26. Dave Zabriskie +19′12″
27. Danny Pate +19′15″
29. Steven Cozza +19′42″
39. Tyler Farrar +21′14″
49. Daniel Holloway +22′17″

In a near repeat performance of yesterday’s stage, today’s Tour of Britain stage 5 had a very similar finish with Edval Boasson Hagen taking his second win with Julian Dean finishing 5th on the stage and second in the field sprint just behind Victor Hugo Pena. Dan Martin also finished in the first chase group, enabling him to maintain his overall position.

Please see the detailed Tour of Britain report for further details.

Team Garmin-Chipotle stage results
1. Edval Boasson Hagen 3h46′23″
5. Julian Dean +11″
20. Dan Martin +11″
32. Chris Sutton +11″
56. Trent Lowe +5′07″
70. David Millar +11′14″
76. Magnus Backstedt +11′45″

Team Garmin-Chipotle GC
1. Geoffroy Lequarte 17h29′40″
7. Dan Martin +14″
17. Chris Sutton +1′59″
25. Julian Dean +12′32″
56. Trent Lowe +19′02″
68. David Millar +25′09″
69. Magnus Backstedt +25′12″