The Jelly Belly Team was finally rewarded with a podium finish on Stage Six of the Tour of Missouri, when Missouri-native Brad Huff received third place as he sprinted into St. Charles Saturday afternoon.
Among his fellow winners were Ivan Dominquez (Toyota-United) in second and Mark Cavendish (Columbia) in first.
“There was an early break that Brad was in,” said Kiel Reijnen of Jelly Belly. “He wasn’t able to hang on, though, and for a while he fell back and rode with the pack.”
But there was more than one break, which meant more than one chance to put Jelly Belly riders in the front.
“Another break happened when Columbia started to pull forward and crank it closer to the end,” Reijnen said. “We tried to put Brad back in it and it worked because he placed well in the final sprint.”
The course for Stage Six began in Hermann, Mo., and the mix of winding roads and hilly terrain proved more challenging than previously thought. There were more riders that crashed or dropped out of this race than in any other stage of the Tour so far.
“There were a couple of bad crashes and I got a broken wheel with about 20 kilometers to go,” Reijnen said. “So that put me back a bit, to say the least.”
Tomorrow’s Stage Seven will be 70 miles through a circuit course in St. Louis. Because it will be the flattest stage of all, the team will want to watch the front.
“I know there will be break after break tomorrow,” Reijnen said. “And it’s going to be strung out the whole time, so we will just have to pay attention to the fast teams – Garmin-Chipotle and Columbia – because they’ll want to shake up the pack a little bit.”
By Molly Saunders
