First Endurance rider (Mark Cavendish) won stage 2 today at the Tour of Missouri.  This is Mark’s second consecutive stage win at the race.  The star sprinter extended his lead in the overall classification by gaining a ten-second time bonus in stage two Tuesday.  ”We started fast and kept a good tempo all day,” commented sports director Tristan Hoffman.  [Columbia-HTC teammate] Kanstantsin [Sivtsov] and Michael Barry worked the whole race, along with [American teammate] Craig Lewis, on the consistently rolling course.”

“The guys really looked after me again today,” commented Cavendish after the win.  “It was a bit hectic in the last kilometres, but George [Hincapie] kept me out of trouble.”  It was US Pro Champion George Hincapie who escorted Cavendish through the final kilometres to the Briton’s 23rd victory of the season.  “In the last kilometres, the pace picked up.  Cervelo tried to damage our train.  But George took Mark to the end,” added Hoffman.  “Mark jumped on Thor Hushovd’s wheel and had no trouble getting past him.  And the final result was a brilliant win.”