Saxo's Haedo dethrones race leader Hushovd after winning stage 4 at the Tour of Missouri

JJ Haedo (Saxo Bank) took the yellow jersey in the 2009 Tour of Missouri on Thursday after winning a tough uphill sprint against race leader Thor Hushovd (Cervélo TestTeam) on the “capital wall” in Jefferson City. It was another mass dash after the peloton gobbled up a four-man break — Bernard Van Ulden (Jelly Belly), Bradley White (OUCH-Maxxis), Michael Creed (Team Type 1) and Jeff Louder (BMC) — as they began the first of three circuits around the Missouri Capitol.

Published September 10, 2009 05:21PM

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By Steve Frothingham

2009 Tour of Missouri, Stage 4: J.J. Haedo (Saxo Bank) takes the stage and the overall lead.

Photo: Casey B. Gibson

It was another mass dash after the peloton gobbled up a four-man break — Bernard Van Ulden (Jelly Belly), Bradley White (OUCH-Maxxis), Michael Creed (Team Type 1) and Jeff Louder (BMC) — as they began the first of three circuits around the Missouri Capitol.

A crash caused a split in the final miles, taking down overall contender George Hincapie (Columbia-HTC), sprint hopeful Sebastian Haedo (Colavita-Sutter Home) and a number of other riders.

JJ Haedo was slowed by the crash, but worked his way back into the top 8 by the final kilometer.

“I had to sort of recover a little bit before the sprint, so I held it back to seventh or eighth wheel maybe, and then I started sprinting from farther back, which was hard to do,” Haedo said. “Actually the last 100 meters I was just like all in, all for the line and there was no time to look around.”

Cervelo had been controlling the front in the last kilometers, but the crash took out several of Hushovd’s leadout men, including Brett Lancaster, leaving him with just one teammate heading into the final kilometer.

2009 Tour of Missouri, Stage 4: Race leader Thor Hushovd (Cervélo) took second, but gave up the jersey.

Photo: Casey B. Gibson

“(Lead-out man Heinrich) Haussler went at 500 meters,” Hushovd said. “A bit too early, but we had no choice. I lost a bit of speed just on the last climb, then JJ came from behind and we kind of drag raced and he just got me.”

Hushovd hung on for second with Dario Cataldo (Quick Step) third, but Hushovd lost his leader’s jersey to the Saxo Bank sprinter, although the two are now tied on time.

All the riders involved in the crash finished and were given the same time as the winner.

How it unfolded

The 109.2-mile race covered more rolling terrain from St. James to the state’s capital in Jefferson City, where the peloton gave the locals a show by turning laps around a finishing circuit marked by that tough 300-meter climb to the finish line.

The race was a man short as it rolled out — Columbia’s Mark Cavendish was feeling “slightly ill,” according to a team spokesman, and called it a race after two stage wins.

2009 Tour of Missouri, Stage 4: Creed, Louder and White in the break.

Photo: Casey B. Gibson

OUCH’s Floyd Landis attacked from the gun and took about 30 seconds before being pulled back. More attacks followed and failed before Van Ulden, White, Creed and Louder finally got away, building a lead of 1:45 at the 24.5-mile mark.

Garmin-Slipstream, Cervélo TestTeam and Columbia-HTC took the front of the bunch and set a reasonable tempo as the break extended its advantage to about three and a half minutes, with Creed taking the first intermediate sprint at Belle. The temperature was going up, too, approaching 90 degrees under cloudy skies.

Tick, tock

Fifty-four miles into the stage, the break was losing ground, its margin down to two minutes. And that’s where it stayed for many miles, the peloton clearly confident of its ability to snatch back the escapees whenever it chose.

With 20 miles remaining, the gap was down to 90 seconds. Louder took the second intermediate sprint at Taos. Ten miles later the gap was just a minute as Cervélo and Liquigas drove the chase.

2009 Tour of Missouri, Stage 4: Liquigas and Cervélo drove the chase back to Jefferson City.

Photo: Casey B. Gibson

Creed said the foursome raced hard for the first 15 or 20 kilometers of their breakaway, then cruised the middle before picking it up again at the end.

“We knew that they were going to keep us at a certain distance and that certain teams were going to work together, so we would just be beating our heads against the wall if we raced full tilt the whole way. So actually when we got out to three minutes we were going pretty slow. We knew no matter what, they were going to keep us at that distance.”

As the break raced toward Jefferson City the foursome’s advantage was just 40 seconds. Louder launched a couple of attacks that shed Creed as the break drove into town. White was next to try his luck as a small group leapt off the front of the chase and absorbed his erstwhile mates, but he came apart on the wall and it was gruppo compatto.

Zabriskie gets in some TT practice

Attacks came and went, but nothing stuck, and with one lap to go the bunch was all together. Then David Zabriskie (Garmin-Slipstream), hoping to get clear of any last lap danger, had a dig up the hill. He was caught — and then went again, and was caught again.

2009 Tour of Missouri, Stage 4: JJ Haedo in the first yellow jersey of his career.

Photo: Casey B. Gibson

A crash in a fast left-hand turn put Hincapie and Sebastian Haedo on the deck, but race leader Hushovd was ahead of the spill and Cervélo moved forward to give him a hand. So, too, did Rory Sutherland (OUCH), working for U.S. pro crit champ John Murphy, as the bunch crossed the bridge and headed for its final trip up the wall.

The field went curb to curb on the final ascent, and Hushovd drilled it early, only to see JJ Haedo take the victory and the overall lead.

Breakaway members Creed and Louder were given pack time and, thanks to the time bonuses they earned at intermediate sprints during the day, moved up to seventh and eighth, respectively, on the GC.

The overall standings are likely to be overturned by Friday’s critical 19-mile time trial, with some names that have been quiet to date — names like Leipheimer, Zabriskie, Zirbel, Hincapie and Rogers — making the headlines.

Beyond the time trial, several riders said they were expecting a much harder final weekend as the race grooves west toward Kansas City.

“There may be breakaways the last two days,” JJ Haedo said. “It’s going to be a harder race than it’s been the last two days, that’s for sure.”