Tour of Missouri News & Info

Rural Missouri Magazine has a great story about the Tour of Missouri, summarizing all the developments and what to expect this year:

The international cycling community, along with many Missourians who last year didn’t know the sport existed, will be focused on Missouri as the tour returns for the second time Sept. 8-14. The tour will bring 120 world-class cyclists — including those fresh from the Tour de France and the recent Olympic games — to the state. They will compete over seven stages covering 600 miles of tough terrain to crown the eventual champion.

Most of the route goes through small towns and along rural roads, including Platte City, Deepwater, Swedeborg, St. Thomas and Defiance. The tour features some of Missouri’s finest tourist destinations, from the Pony Express Museum in St. Joseph to Branson’s music and the Lewis and Clark attractions at St. Charles.

Those who turned out for last year’s tour will see new attractions for the 2008 edition. Gone is Team Discovery, made famous by Lance Armstrong, which made its farewell tour in Missouri. In its place is up-and-coming Team Columbia, featuring Hincapie and other elite riders.

Another team coming to the event is Rock Racing, known as the “Bad Boys of Cycling” for their on- and off-bike antics. Rock Racing, sponsored by the Rock and Republic clothing line, shows up in outrageously decorated Cadillac Escalade SUVs.

“Without a doubt, this is a deeper field than last year,” said Chris Aronhalt, managing partner of event organizer Medalist Sports. “We have three teams that played major roles at the Tour de France this year.

One of the great things about the Tour is how it involves people and communities from all around the state--cities large and small. Rural Missouri magazine is published by the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives, which is one of the sponsors of this year's Tour. The Missouri Farm Bureau is also a Tour sponsor.

It's great to see these organizations, which represent rural constituencies in Missouri, seeing the benefits of bicycling and bicycle tourism in Missouri--because bicycle tourism is a great way to ramp up the economies in rural areas while still maintaining that wonderful rural lifestyle that so much of Missouri enjoys.

Related:

TourOfMO: Governor promotes Tour of Missouri in St. Louis

News: KCStar columnist: Motorists should give cyclists more respect on the road

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The Tour of Missouri announced the participating teams for the 2008 Tour today:

Team Garmin-Chipotle of the United States and Team Liquigas of Italy---two top-performing entrants from the recently completed Tour de France---head a list of 13 teams that have been added for the Tour of Missouri world-class cycling event, September 8th – 14th, throughout the Show Me State.

“We will be back to win,” said Jonathan Vaughters, director of the Garmin-Chipotle team, which competed successfully in last year’s race with the team title, second overall finisher (Will Frischkorn), and stage winner (Danny Pate). “This is not an end-of-the-season fun race for us. This is a serious objective for our team. It’s a major event.” The team is expected to bring many riders from their Tour de France team.

HealthNet presented by MAXXIS, the top team on America’s pro circuit the past four years, along with up and coming teams BMC and Rock Racing, head the list of top U.S.-based squads added, along with Bissell, Colavita Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light, Jelly Belly, and Kelly Benefits Strategies-Medifast.

Mexico’s top professional team Tecos and Canada’s best squad Symmetrics, along with top European continental squads from Rabobank of the Netherlands and Sparkasse of Germany will participate. Rabobank is a top European-based club with both a Tour de France-level team and a younger development squad. Their development squad will be represented at Missouri.

All teams join the previously-announced participation of the world’s top team, Columbia, which will be led by the race’s defending-champion George Hincapie; and Toyota-United, which will be led by their star sprinter Ivan Dominguez, who won two stages at last year’s Tour of Missouri, and Dominque Rollin, who placed third overall last year.

“Athletes from around the world will come to race in Missouri,” said Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder. “Last year, they experienced great weather, great crowds, and were welcomed by big and small cities alike. We look forward to playing host to them all again in September.”

“Without doubt, this is a deeper field than last year,” said Chris Aronhalt, managing partner of event organizers Medalist Sports. “We have three teams that played major roles at the Tour de France this year. We have all the top clubs in North America, and two top European continental teams that will surely be hungry. It is an interesting and talented mix.”

The seven-day race starts in St. Joseph and routes to Missouri’s largest town Kansas City with a relatively flat stage. Stage 2 will be a flat stage from Clinton to Springfield, which saw the decisive breakaway that launched Hincapie into the overall lead, which he kept the remainder of the race. Stage 3 is a decisive individual time trial around the mountains in the tourist mecca of Branson.

Stages 4, 5, and 6 all will be hilly and play a role in the overall outcome of the 623-mile race, according to race director Jim Birrell. Stage 4 will start in Lebanon and route to first-time host city Rolla in central Missouri. The stage, which is on September 11th, will route through Fort Leonard Wood Military Reservation to honor and acknowledge American troops. Stage 5 will go from the wine-country town of St. James to finish in Missouri’s capital of Jefferson City. Stage 6 starts in another wine-country town Hermann and routes to the historic river city of St. Charles. The race will culminate with a circuit race through the urban landscape of St. Louis and finish in front of City Hall in the shadows of the Gateway Arch, the back drop to last year’s finale.

“We have a unique blend of teams,” said Birrell. “The way the course is designed, it will take a very high-caliber athlete to win. We could see a few more lead changes than last year. With three top teams from the Tour de France and all the top teams in North America, there will be a lot of good wheels to follow.”

Organizers will announce the top riders later this month after the Olympic Games in Beijing. Numerous cyclists racing in Beijing will participate at the Tour of Missouri, a unique opportunity for spectators to see Olympic athletes immediately after an Olympic Games.

Last year’s event drew a police-estimated 365,000 spectators over six days and provided $26.2 million of direct and indirect economic benefit for the state and its host cities.

“This event proved, in only its first year, to be hugely successful for all involved, most importantly the great host communities of the Tour,” Lieutenant Governor Kinder, chair of the Tourism Commission of Missouri. “It was very successful for the state as a tourism vehicle as people from 73 countries caught part of the event via live webcasts and people from 21 states came into Missouri to see the event.”

Missouri Tourism is the presenting sponsor of the event. Top level sponsors include Anheuser-Busch (and their Michelob ULTRA brand), Drury Hotels, Emerson, Edward Jones, Missouri Farm Bureau, Missouri Wine and Grape Board, Cerner and Monsanto.

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About the Tour of Missouri
After an exceptionally successful inaugural Tour of Missouri in 2007, the Show Me State will again welcome 120 of the world’s elite cyclists on a 623-mile point-to-point race, to be held September 8-14, 2008. The second edition of the Tour will include seven days of racing, from Kansas City to the Ozarks, over the Katy Trail, along Route 66 and the historic Missouri River, with a fantastic finish under the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. The race is sanctioned by the UCI and USA Cycling, the international and national governing bodies for cycling, respectively. It is ranked as a 2.1, second in ranking to only the Tour de Georgia and Amgen Tour of California in North American cycling. The event’s management group is Medalist Sports of Tyrone, Ga., the organizers of both the California and Georgia races. KOM Sports Marketing of Colorado Springs, Colo., is the event’s marketing agency.

Related:

News: 2007 Tour of Missouri Pro Cycling Race to be "Super Bowl On Wheels"

TourOfMO: Tour of Missouri newsletter issue #1

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