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September 7-13, 2009

BISSELL 2nd in Team Classification: Tom Zirbel 4th and Ben Jacques-Maynes 7th Overall

The final day of the Tour of Missouri was the most exciting day of racing and BISSELL’s battle for a podium step was the hardest fought. The course totaled 115K with 7 circuits through downtown Kansas City. Similar to Saturday’s race, attacks were frequent as the riders contested the intermediate sprints, the KOMs, and the stage win.

BISSELL knew the day would be a tough one and that the time bonuses for the intermediate sprints were critical in defending Tom Zirbels’ position in 3rd on the GC. They also realized that they were up against the best lead-out train in the world, Columbia, as they were working for Marco Pinotti (Columbia) who was just 1 second behind Tom. The first intermediate sprint came in the first lap of the race so the action began immediately. As they have done on 2 previous stages when they delivered Mark Cavendish to victory, the Columbia lead-out train formed to successfully bring Pinotti across the line for the 3 second time bonus. George Hincapie (Columbia), Pinotti’s final lead-out man, came across in 2nd and BISSELL’s Ben Jacques-Maynes threw in everything he had to defend Tom’s position crossing in 3rd. Pinnoti’s victory gave him the 1 second he needed to surpass Tom for the podium step.

Other battles ensued throughout the day as Moises Aldape (Team Type 1) and Chris Sorensen (Saxo Bank) were only separated by 13 points in the KOM with 24 points up for grabs in the final stage. Team Type 1 and Saxo Bank fought it out over the 4 KOMs and Aldape was able to secure his lead for the KOM classification.

Attacks continued in the final laps as rider’s had their eyes on stage victory. Michael Barry (Columbia) and Jason McCartney (Saxo) attacked early in the final lap and then Michael Rogers (Columbia) made a solo move with just 10k from the finish. However at 5k to go, all were back together. The sprinter’s teams lined up and it was Planet Energy’s Michael Gilbert who took the win ahead of Andrew Pinfold (OUCH) and Thor Hushovd (Cervelo).

The BISSELL Team showed their strength as the finest domestic team and finished 2nd in the overall team classification as the only domestic team in the top 7. BISSELL had 4 riders in the top 20: Tom 4th, Ben 7th, Jeremy 15th, and Pete 20th. The only other domestic teams to have single a rider in the top 20 were OUCH and Kelly Benefits. The BISSELL Team ended their US race season with one of their finest result. Congratulations BISSELL!

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Tom being interviewed on Versus