Van Poppel wins fifth stage in Tour of Missouri

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Boy Van Poppel of the Netherlands claimed the first win of his pro career and American rider Christian Vande Velde retained his race lead for the third consecutive day Friday in the fifth stage of the Tour of Missouri.

Van Poppel, 20, son of nine-time Tour de France stage winner Jean-Paul Van Poppel, claimed the 109.2-mile St. James to Jefferson City road race in 3 hours, 48 minutes and 42 seconds.

Belgian Michael Van Stayen — Van Poppel’s teammate on the Dutch team Rabobank — finished second and Keven Lacombe (Kelly Benefit) of Canada finished third, both in the same time as the winner. Lacombe is last in the overall standings.

Vande Velde (Garmin-Chipotle) finished 19th in the main pack to retain his 18-second margin over Australia’s Michael Rogers (Team Columbia).

Svein Tuft (Symmetrics) of Canada remains third overall, trailing by 48 seconds with two stages of the weeklong race remaining.

“I may have gone a little too early,” Van Poppel said of the 300-yard final uphill sprint that concluded three 1.8-mile finishing circuits. “But it’s better to go too early than too late. I looked around for the other guys, but I didn’t see them and I said, ’This is my chance; I have to take it.”’

Vande Velde, who finished fifth in this year’s Tour de France, is now two days away from his first stage race win since the 2006 Tour of Luxembourg.

For the second straight day, the field rode in warm and humid conditions.

“The heat and the humidity were very sharp,” Vande Velde said. “But in some ways, it was a bonus. We thought we would he riding in the rain.”

Vande Velde had assumed the race lead from double stage winner Mark Cavendish (Team Columbia) of Great Britain with a dominating time trial win in stage 3.

“Today was a perfect combination for our team,” Vande Velde said. “Luckily, our team didn’t do one-tenth the work as yesterday, which means they are a little more fresh to help me defend the (race leader’s) jersey tomorrow.”

Defending race titlist George Hincapie (Team Columbia) of Greenville, S.C., remains fourth overall, trailing by 1:03.

A group of 12 escaped from the field after about 19 miles. Approaching the final circuits, only Darren Lill (BMC) of the Czech Republic and David Veillleux (Kelly Benefit) of Canada remained at the front with a slim margin. The lead duo was caught with about five miles left.

The second-year race continues Saturday with the 110-mile Hermann to St. Charles sixth stage road race and concludes Sunday with a 75-mile circuit race in St. Louis.