Kansas City, MO - Andrew Pinfold took a very close 2nd in the final sprint of the final stage of the Tour of Missouri To Martin Gilbert (Planet Energy).
Pinfold was put into perfect position by teammate Karl Menzies inside the final kilometer, and they both benefited from an attack by Tim Johnson with 3 km to go which kept the pace high.
Once Johnson was caught, Mick Rogers (Columbia-HTC) also had a go. “It was hard racing,” Pinfold noted.
Coming into the final kilometer, Cervelo Test Team took over the front to bring back Rogers and set up 2009 Tour de France Green Jersey winner Thor Hushovd for the sprint.
But with 500 meters to go, “Menzies came over the top of the Cervelo train and dropped me off on Thor’s wheel,” Pinfold said. “I was able to come around Thor. Then it was a drag race with Gilbert to the line. He started his sprint a bit earlier than I did. It came down to a bike throw.
“We were close a few times this week,” Pinfold said. “Today was a bit bittersweet. It would’ve been great to get the win for the team, but it was still good to get the result at the end.”
Pinfold’s trip to the podium wrapped up a solid week of racing by OUCH Presented by Maxxis. The team put U.S. Criterium Champion John Murphy in the top 10 of a couple stages, and Brad White got to the podium on Stage 4 by virtue of earning Most Aggressive Rider for the stage. And Rory Sutherland parlayed a strong 10th place in the Stage 5 individual time trial to finish the Tour in 10th overall.
“The guys raced well all week,” said team director Sportif Mike Tamayo. “Sometimes those efforts don’t always show up on the results sheet. But we were active in every stage, Murphy was sprinting well and Karl and Pinner did a great job of finishing things off today on a high note.”
Photo: Jonathan Devich/epicimages.us
Technorati tags:
ouch,
cycling news