Show Me The Tour - The Finale

This was it - the final day of the Tour of Missouri. We secured the "$10,000 seats" directly across from the podium and just before the start/finish line. Legendary cycling photographer, Liz Kruetz, even took our photo before the race (above) and it appears on the thepaceline.com, the official web site of Team Discovery (unfortunately Aubs was asleep directly behind us in her stroller). http://thepaceline.com/members/view_gallery.aspx?cid=341 Before the day was complete, we would say goodbye to Team Discovery and Jackie would incite a near riot - but I'm getting ahead of the story.


This was the final stage of the Tour and would consist of seven laps of a 10.6-mile circuit that began and ended at Union Station in downtown St. Louis and included treks through Forest Park at its furthest western point. Murph captured this shot of Tour de France winner, Alberto Contador, warming up before the race.



An estimated 60,000+ plus people lined the course to watch the race, so we had to defend our position. I had driven down to the finish area early in the morning, set up our "luxury suite" by the barricades, then raced home on the train to wake Jackie, Murph and Aubs to return on the train and claim our spot. It was elbow to elbow, but thankfully the people around us were very considerate. Note the barricades directly in front of Jackie - they will become an integral part of the story before the day is done.



Murph steps across the street to capture the peloton zooming past. We would get to see them go by seven times. Note the Arch and Old Courthouse dome in the background.



Team Discovery leads the peloton past Union Station. Watch closely and you'll see George Hincapie, the race leader, go by in the yellow jersey in about seventh or eighth position.





The peloton passes late in the race.








George Hincapie of Team Discovery was awarded the final yellow jersey as winner of the Tour of Missouri.



Then Team Discovery took the stage to say a historic farewell to over a decade of dominance that included eight Tour de France victories.

But for us - and the crowd around us - the excitement was just beginning. Our front row seats to the podium suddenly became a beehive of pushing and shoving as everyone strained for a glimpse of the winners. Here's a video of the crowd around us.


Although we were semi-well protected by the positioning of our chairs and stroller, Jackie's claustrophobia kicked in and suddenly she attemped to scale the barricades in front of us - a near impossible feat. As the crowd watched in amazement, a man pulled out a knife and cut through the barracade bindings to free a panicked Jackie. Then the flood gates opened. Everyone spilled past us and pushed toward the stage. I quickly handed Aubrey to Jackie and they made their getaway as police attempted to restore order.

The police and security officers questioned the people around us to see how the incident happened and a man explained that a girl had been panicked by the crowd. Murph and I remained quiet as we waited out the festivities with our chairs and stroller and, thankfully, no arrests were made.

Like Johan Bruyneel, the mastermind behind Team Discovery, we also waved goodbye to yet another exciting adventure of travel, racing, and once again, a brush with the law.

Talk to you soon. Until then, pick up the pace and run your own race.

- Jeff