The Tour of Missouri ended Sunday in St. Louis. While the Jelly Belly team can’t claim a stage win, they can claim many successful days in the saddle in other ways.
Missouri-native Brad Huff showed up in full force this week after crashing in the last 100 meters of the first stage which finished in Kansas City. Except for a bit of road rash he remained unscathed and ready to conquer Stage Two, which ended in his hometown of Springfield, Mo. There, he came away with a sixth place finish among hundreds of Jelly Belly and Brad Huff fans.
“Huff is really one of the best sprinter’s out there, we just have to protect him so he has room to do what he needs to do,” said Jelly Belly rider Matty Rice.
Huff finally gained a podium finish on Stage Six of the Tour, finishing in third place in St. Charles, Mo. In the final stage in St. Louis Sunday, he added a fifth place finish to his list.
Jelly Belly riders are fortunate enough to have bicycle manufacturer GT on their team, which not only dresses up their bikes with special Jelly Belly beans on the top tube and the seat stays, they even personalize them with each riders’ name decaled on the top tube.
On his own GT bike, Bernard Van Ulden finished just three minutes behind race leader Christian Vande Velde of Garmin-Chipotle in the time trial.
Racers realized Missouri has many hills, and tough ones at that, in Branson’s 17 mile individual time trial Wednesday. Not only did Van Ulden beat his 2007 time by two places, he conquered what many riders deem the “most difficult time trial” they’ve ever raced.
It was on this stage that the Jelly Belly fans came out in full force. As Team Director Danny Van Haute threw out Jelly Belly samples from the team’s official Lexus vehicles, which were decked out in true Jelly Belly fashion, gave fans something to smile at as they cheered on their favorite team at each stage. And because of the great Sport Beans samples and friendly atmosphere surrounding the team cars at the beginning of every stage, Jelly Belly was arguably the most popular team at the Tour.
Aussie Nic Sanderson came away with an eleventh place finish in Stage Five, which ended in Missouri’s capitol Jefferson City. Knowing Sanderson is a good uphill sprinter was what motivated the team to protect him until the end.
In the last stage of the Tour, Jeremy Powers used his cyclocross skills by powering through the rain and wind in St. Louis. Because part of the course was flooded overnight due to remnants of Hurricane Ike, race organizers shortened the 13 mile circuit to 10.5 miles the morning of the race. Although the rain ceased a couple of hours before the start, it began again as the riders took off. The wind also kicked up, blowing in all directions, with gusts up to 30 miles per hour.
“I found a good spot and broke off by myself for a while,” Powers said, explaining his two-man break in the first loop of the stage. “After Kirk O’Bee joined me from Healthnet, we created a significant gap and just took off.”
That significant gap lasted until the final meters of the stage, after they were overtaken by the pack. Powers was still a winner though, as he powered through two of the three Sprint lines in Stage Seven.
At the end of the day, all the riders on the team agreed Missouri held the toughest time trial they had ever completed. But they also said it was one of the most fun races they’ve ever competed in.
“It’s the end of the season, and the weather isn’t always great, but the courses are awesome here,” Van Ulden said. “And it didn’t really matter what the weather was, the fans were always there, and we really appreciate that.
“The fans really make you dig deeper sometimes, and they really make you feel better and forget about the pain for a little bit.”
“I like this race,” said rider Nick Reistad. “It’s got great courses and great fans. I’ll definitely be back next year.”
By:Molly Saunders
Photos: Gary Achterberg
