Experience the final Stage of the Race!

Okay, a little travel guide to go with the pictures.

I got there early, just after 10am. The race didn't start til 1pm. So they are still setting up for the race, and the vendors are unloading.

The spot I picked to stand, turned into the area for the officials cars to line up. Lauren, the voice of Race Radio, was presented with a crown as the UCI Queen. So the cars are in the way, but we get to talk to people who get to ride in the cars! I say "we"...it's amazing how you can bond with people that you line up with to watch the race.

I never made it over to the area where some of the Team buses have parked. That's where Slipstream, Disco, Healthnet, some of the bigger teams have their cars, trailers, and buses.

Honest, Levi was the last rider to sign in! Dave was yelling that time was close; " All riders to the sign-in area...." . They started lining up and announcing riders to the front before Levi even showed up!! That's how close it was!

I had the VIP for the day. All the food and drink I wanted. Free t-shirts, free water bottles, and watching on TV's. But I don't drink soda, beer or wine, so I was pretty cheap for them. I kept getting water every time I went dry.

You just can't see all the people from my pictures. I went up to Brent Hugh, the executive director of the MO Bicycle Federation, to talk about the race, and said I'd help with the doping controls right after the race. That was before I knew that Brad Huff was going to do a flip, head first over his handlebars! So I had to move closer to the area when the last lap was announced.

Then I had to sprint over to the Doping area, to keep people from taking pictures and getting to close to the racers. George was the first rider over there. We had a crowd. By the time George finished and went off for the podium, the people scattered too. Mike Friedman was a random test; and when he came up, I asked about Brad. He casually said, that they had got him on his bike to ride over the finish line.

When I was released from duty; I pulled on my Brad t-shirt, and raced for the podium! But, unlike the other stages, I was in the back and could barely see a thing. So I didn't even bother to take pictures. I was able to move up as some of the people starting moving around, or leaving the area. It was great! It was the best podium all week!!
After all the prizes where handed out, including Best Team, Slipstream, and thank God, Brad was up there with his bottle of bubbly, spraying his teammates!

But they held onto George, there was a special send off for the Discovery team. They had riders going all the way back to 7-11, Saturn, Motorola, Postal, about 5-6 riders announced. And then the team was brought up too, including Johan. It was so emotional, I started tearing up!!

I started talking to a photographer from St. Louis named Tosh. He's a friend of Brad's. And he sent me a couple of pictures of Brad and his link to Stage 6 pictures.

I talked to Kurt, the photographer I remembered from Downer's Grove, too. And then I say the guys with the Armadillo crossing sign, and the t-shirt! That was the running joke during the whole day, the stupid creature had become our race mascot!

When I got closer to the podium, I noticed the crowd behind it, so I thought I'd check it out. And there was our American Champion surrounded by a huge crowd of people. I was so glad I got my autographs in Lebanon(Stage 4 start), cause there was no way today!! But that's how I got a good picture of Levi with one of his fans.

Let me see if I can find Tosh's link to his pictures.....be back in a sec.....

I wonder if this will work:

Tour of MO Stg 6
by Tosh Yoshino
I think it will; enjoy his podium pictures!!