The Original Schleck proposed to his girlfriend at the Amstel Gold Curacao. Wonder if anyone got pictures? He did it at a fireworks show so it sounds like it was in public. Awww. So romantic! Many a Luxembourgian girl's heart broke upon this news. Oh yeah, and Cyclegirl's.

Read all about it. (Google translate to English)

The eldest of the Schleck brothers, Frank Schleck, intends to marry.  He proposed to his fiancee in a swimming pool on the Dutch island of Curacao yesterday... his girlfriend Martine, who did not need much reflection and answered yes.

Guy East (TREK-Livestrong U23) and Austin Carroll (BMC) are competing as a team in the Grenoble 6 Day Race. They won the 6 Days of Dortmund U23 last winter. They are both 22 (I believe) and new to 6 day racing. It looks like they are competing in the regular race with the big boys, not the U23. Both are regular Twitter users and Austin Carroll blogs and vlogs about his experiences as a young up and coming cyclist. He enjoys video editing and film making. He's an affable guy and fun to follow and clearly excited about this race. He has already posted a video of their arrival in France yesterday. Check his blog link.

6DayRacing.ca did a story on them earlier this year.

I am hoping we will find some live video from Grenoble but I'm not holding my breath. The Grenoble 6 day race starts today tomorrow October 29th. Check them out.

I want to make sure I don't oversleep and miss out on the live thread party but I don't want to get up any earlier than necessary. The current posted times make me tired just looking at them. Waking up in the middle of the night to watch Euro racing is such a burden for us left coasters to carry. Sigh. I think we deserve the award for most dedication. 2:30am for the TT and 1:30am for the road race? Yikes! Might as well not go to bed at all. Reminds me of watching the Olympics road race.

/whine

My question to the cafe, especially those in Europe is - what time are your local TV schedules showing as live video start times?

Universal's schedule reflects the same start times as the actual race times on the official Mendrisio 09 site. So I am wondering if the Universal schedule is not yet displaying the actual video start times or are we going to get streaming video of the entire men's races both days?

The Universal Sports Schedule shows:

Women's Elite Time Trial:  Wednesday, Sep 23 at 8:00am ET

Men's Elite Time Trial:  Thursday, Sep 24 at 5:30am ET

Women's Elite Road Race:  Saturday, Sep 26 at 3:00am ET

Men's Elite Road Race:  Sunday, Sep 27 at 4:30am ET

Updated: The UCI has posted start lists and TV coverage info. Sure enough they are showing the entire men's TT and road race live. Wow.

Stage Five – Sedalia, Time Trial, 30.5 km

A time trial for the purists awaits in Sedalia. This is what time trialing is all about, flat, fast, and wide open. A collection of the best time trialists in the world go full throttle from start to finish on the Missouri State Fair grounds in Sedalia. (Or bring your bike and cruise the Katy Trail, which offers three great viewing points of the course in a five-mile stretch.)

Video Link: http://tourofmissouritracker.com/

The first rider just left the star house. Low res video with commentary is up. High resolution video with Universal Sports commentary scheduled to start at 1:00PM Pacific Time.

Live Ticker: http://live.cyclingnews.com/
Start list with times: http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/511

For those of you assuming yesterday's stage would be another ho-hum Cav wins again day, think again. Thor Hushovd and Cervelo Test Team (with the assistance of a Missouri roller and a 6 lane highway) managed to hatch a plan to beat Cavendish and it worked. We, the online viewers, were fighting off seasickness just watching the rollers go by from the back of a motocam. Up and down and up and down and up and down.....  Missouri is not flat. We learned this again yesterday.

Once again, Columbia was forced to pull all day yesterday with Cav in yellow and looked like they ran out of steam at the sprinty end. Cervelo now holds the yellow jersey with Hushovd. Will they put their boys on the front, will they again try to force Columbia HTC to pull the break back, or will a break get away and stay away? Rider times are so close in the GC that any break could produce the winner of the 2009 Tour of Missouri. Two thirds of the riders are within 20 seconds of the lead with a 30.5 KM individual time trial tomorrow.

Profile and video information after the jump.

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Today's stage description from the official website:

Stage 3 –Farmington to Rolla, 114.3 mi. (183.9 km)

Perhaps the most challenging stage in the three-year history of Tour of Missouri awaits the riders during this stage. The start in Farmington’s quaint downtown belies the challenges to come in the Ozark Mountains. With over 6,000 feet of total climbing on hill after hill, this day will begin to shape the race for the overall champion. The familiar finish in Rolla could again see a solo winner as it did in 2008 with Michael Barry.

Video here: http://tourofmissouritracker.com/ 

Currently it is the low res stream with no commentary. The high resolution video with commentary starts approximately 2 hours before the stage finish.

Live ticker: http://live.cyclingnews.com/

Its a 180.9 KM stage today.  From the Official race website:

This new territory for the Tour of Missouri will offer the racers their first taste of state’s rolling hills and scenic countryside. Some early KOM hills and a technical finish on Cape’s riverfront should provide a challenge for the day’s winner.

Video here: http://tourofmissouritracker.com/

Live ticker: http://live.cyclingnews.com/

Video started early on in the stage yesterday as a low res version with Dave Towle's race announcing as the audio commentary. With approximately 2 hours to the finish, Paul Sherwen and Frankie Andreu took over for Universal Sports and the high res video became available. No video as of yet for today and the stage started about 30 min ago.

Low resolution video stream here currently: http://tourofmissouritracker.com/

Universalsports is supposed to have higher resolution video for last 2 hours of race. The relay plane is not up until then.

CyclingNews has a live ticker at: http://live.cyclingnews.com/

Stage information from the official website:

Stage 1 – St. Louis, circuit race, 75 miles (120.7 km)

A new kickoff point for the third Tour of Missouri will be a showcase of St. Louis on Labor Day Weekend. While the terrain is relatively easy, the course is fast and technical, which will make things interesting from the start. Everyone will have fresh legs and a shot at the first yellow jersey of the tour, making this opening day an exciting one.