Christian Vande Velde Wins Tour of Missouri

American Christian Vande Velde of Team Garmin-Chipotle preserved the 21-second lead he secured in a dominating third-stage time trial performance through four more legs of the Tour of Missouri to claim the yellow jersey following Sunday's conclusion in St. Louis. Michael Rogers (AUS) of Team Columbia finished second overall and Svein Tuft (CAN) of Symmetrics took third.

“It’s been a really great race from day one,” said Vande Velde, who finished fifth in the 2008 Tour de France. “I didn’t expect to win the time trial, but from then on, it was game on with everyone throwing everything at us, trying to take away the 21-second gap I had from the time trial. In the end, I was happy that everyone gave us such a fight because the win means that much more to us.”

Team Columbia's Mark Cavendish (UK) was a dominant force in the race, winning three stages and coming in second in the finale on Sunday, and taking home the the green jersey as the top sprinter of the race. Dominique Rollin (CAN) of Toyota-United won the King of the Mountain title with Roman Kreuziger (CZE) of Liquigas winning the best young rider award. Jeffry Louder (USA) of BMC was selected as the most aggressive rider of the Tour of Missouri.

Photos from the Tour of Missouri podium:

• Christian Vande Velde
  
• Mark Cavendish - top sprinter
  
• Dominque Rollin - king of the mountain
  
• Final winner's circle for the 2008 Tour of Missouri- Cavendish, Kreuziger, Vande Velde, Rollin and Louder
  

Image of Christian Vande Velde - David Fiedler