Tour of Missouri

I was watching La Vuelta last night and they had a little snippet on the ToM, which I've been ignoring.... then I say the GC standings...  Holy sh&*!  I went and DVR'd all teh stages I could find.  I had no idea the field was that deep.....

Hmmnm, cr@p coverage for sure.   1/2 hour and they spend 10 minutes yacking (although I liked watching Jens' interview, so that part was OK)

Hard to follow, they first show the start, go to commercial, come back and show the finish (with the camera behind the fans so you can't see the finish...)

Yeah the Jens interview was cool.

universalsports.com also has the tour of Missouri online. 

Just watching Stage 3 now, not sure if this is more coverage than the Vs. highlight show or now.

yep, much more coverage online.

Great finish in stage 3.

Unfortunately Cav wasn't the winner.

Disappointed that this race didnt start with a TT. All this mess with people having the exact same times and the majority of the field being within 20 seconds. Granted this leads up to tomorrows TT being awesome but it just comes across as poor organizing. A sprinter should not be wearing the jersey after several stages with the likes of levi and others in the peleton. I also find it annoying that the Lieutenant Governor who has spoken every day during coverage knows absolutely nothing about cycling, and interrupts the announcers constantly and LOUDLY.

Just finished watching stage 3. For all their strength, it doesn't look like HTC has what it takes to defend a yellow jersey. They really fell apart at the end after leading the pack all day. It seems they need to the advantage of nestling into the peloton in order to launch that setup at the end.

But I guess that also speaks to the differences between the ToM and the TdF. Different races, different terrain, different tactics.

Go Thor!!

Funny, everytime I hear them say "Columbia HTC" or read it, my mind goes to COlumbia THC......

Responding to myself...    I also wanted to say that as sucky as the coverage is, I like the fact that they are interviewing foreign riders after the stage.  During the TdF I so wanted to see interviews with Cav, Thor, even Heinrich Hausler, would have loved to hear how he felt after the stage win, since he was so emotional. 

Maybe it's the format, but having Voigt and Hushovd interviews was cool.    I loved it when Voigt said he was glad he came "because apparently I have a lot of fans."  That guy is awesome

Watch the universalsports.com coverage, much better.

Ya i prefer to watch the races on universalsports as well, no comercials is great, and i do specifically remember them interviewing cav a few times in this years TDF.

Dave Zabriskie tore up that TT beat the whole field by 40 seconds, that was really impressive.

On a side note GO RYDER, glad he got a stage victory in the vuelta, they said first canadian grand tour victory since like 1980.

Yeah, they got a couple "drive by" Cav interviews at TdF, but they were quick Frankie Andreu bits just after the race, before the podium ceremony and 3 or 4 questions.  These are better, sit down type interviews

Oh, and as funny as Dave Z is, he is a horrible interview,  he seems so shy 

Edited by ChrisM 2009-09-12 12:40 PM

Ya i thought it was funny they were interviewing him before the race was over, so you know he was still jittery.

FInally watched the last stage.   DAVE Z!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got to watch stage 7 live in KC!  We were at the top of one of the steepest hills and got to see the riders fly up them 6 times before sprinting to catch them before the big finish.  It was AWESOME in person!

WOW that is sooo awesome, everytime i watch one of these races I imagine myself near the finish line and think of how amazing it must be to be there. Its definitely one of my top 5  goals in life to witness a TDF mountain stage like the arcalis, verbier, or Mont Ventoux.