Hincapie to defend Tour of Missouri title in 2008

In an interview with Bicycling Magazine, George Hincapie indicated he will be back to defend his title in the 2008 Tour of Missouri--along with his new teammates from T-Mobile:

Will your program with T-Mobile be basically the same as in the past? And will we see you racing the big stage races in the US?

It should be the same with emphasis on the Classics. I'll ride Tour of California for sure and I'm slated to ride Tour of Georgia, but only if I've recovered from the Classics, so that one is up in the air. I'll defend my title at Tour of Missouri too.

How important do you think these stage races are to racing in the USA now?

I think they are really important. It's amazing how many people are out there watching those races. It's a good sign for the growing popularity of the sport. It's important that the big US teams and big US riders get to do these races, too. Hopefully now that Discovery is finished this won't change and the US riders will bring their teams from Europe to these races.