All Quiet on the BISSELL Front…
Yet Strung Out Bunch Will Motivate Zirbel On Redemption Day

The longest stage of this year’s 2008 Tour of Missouri at 126 miles was off to an animated start from the gun.  For the BISSELL Pro Cycling Team as well as most of the other participating teams, it was matter of staying alert and keeping Zirbel out of trouble heading into tomorrow’s 18-mile time trial. Whether or not that was accomplished is still up for debate at press time.

BISSELL’s Scott Zwizanski was part of any early four-man break but peloton was not interested in allowing that particular combination to escape.  At sixteen miles in, a break of five managed to escape, and the main field settled in for the long haul for the next 100 miles up until they approached the two finishing circuits about three hours and half hours later.

“We’re pleased with the day,” explained co-captain Ben Jacques-Maynes at the end of the long stage. “We executed exactly according to plan and while perhaps there was nothing lost, nothing gained, you have to try.”

He elaborated, “We set out with a plan to try to prevent a sprint finish when we sent Garrett [Peltonen] off the front on the final circuit.  While it didn't pan, hopefully it will inspire others to get in the game with us over the next few stages.”

What may have been lost however, were crucial seconds to Tom Zirbel going into what could be a decisive time trial tomorrow. The huge rolling hills are perfectly suited to the 6’4” power man. While most surmised that the strung out bunch would receive the same finishing time – the official results had the group split in two with both Zirbel and Dave Zabriskie receiving finishing times 11 seconds back putting Zirbel 28 seconds down on GC.

Still, there should be a solid GC shake-up following Wednesday’s time trial and BISSELL Pro Cycling should be a player in all that shakes out.

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Teddy King