Tour of Missouri 2007 Results, Photos, Video
 photo courtesy of Ken Conley |
|
Route Map, Stage Details, Teams, Results, Photos, Video and Live Updates
Just posted...Click here for Tour of Missouri 2008 route and stage details
 |
||
| Tour of Missouri Stage Details | ||
| 1 | Tue, September 11th | 85 mi |
| Kansas City → Kansas City | ||
| profile | map | timetable | live | results | photos | video | ||
description: An out-and-back course starting and finishing at the Country Club Plaza in Missouri's second largest city. It will be a road race swinging a wide loop around the metro area, including the Northland, followed by finishing circuits. | ||
| 2 | Wed, September 12th | 125 mi |
| Clinton → Springfield | ||
| profile | map | timetable | live | results | photos | video | ||
description: Starts at the trailhead of Missouri's famous Katy Trial cross-state bike path en route to Missouri's third-largest city, Springfield with the finish in Jordan Valley Park. | ||
| 3 | Thu, September 13th | 18 mi |
| Branson → Branson | TT | |
| profile | map | timetable | live | results | photos | video | ||
description: Cyclists will race against the clock during an individual time trial (“race of truth”) in the hilly resort town of Branson which could determine the overal winner. The Ozark Mountain Highroad will take in a large part of the course | ||
| 4 | Fri, September 14th | 133 mi |
| Lebanon → Columbia | ||
| profile | map | timetable | live | results | photos | video | ||
description: The caravan transfers north to the agricultural town of Lebanon and then races north to the collegiate town of Columbia, home to the University of Missouri. | ||
| 5 | Sat, September 15th | 123 mi |
| Jefferson City → St. Charles | ||
| profile | map | timetable | live | results | photos | video | ||
description: After a short auto transfer south, Stage 5 will start in Missouri's capital Jefferson City and travel through the state's wine region en route to the historic river city of St. Charles. | ||
| 6 | Sun, September 16th | 74 mi |
| St. Louis → St. Louis | Circuit |
|
| profile | map | timetable | live | results | photos | video | ||
description: The cross-state journey for the cyclists will finish in Missouri's largest city, St. Louis. In the shadows of the arch, the race will have gone through more than 20 counties, 50 towns and cities, and covered about 600 miles. | ||
| Total Distance | 600 mi | |
|
Tour of Missouri 15 TeamsProTour TeamsDiscovery Channel Pro Cycling Team (USA) Prodir-Saunier Duval (Spain)
Domestic Pro Continental Teams
Domestic Continental Teams
International (Pro) Continental Teams | ||
| Route Map | Stage Details | Preview | Teams | TV | Live Internet | FAQ |
January 29th 1:05 AM PST update: Tour of Missouri 2008 route and stage details... the exclusive scoop.
January 29th update: According to Springfield's News-Leader.com, the host cities for this year's 2008 Tour of Missouri will be announced this Wednesday between 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the Truman Hotel in Jefferson City. Gov. Matt Blunt, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder and race organizers will be on hand with representatives from each selected city. I guess we can assume Jefferson City has scored host city honors again. Rolla also looks to be in this year, after just missing out last year. — Steve
September 18th update: Velonews Tour of Missouri Wrap-up Podcast (
): Tour of Missouri exceeded expectations; it's not such a shame about the absence of a title sponsor; Hincapie called the Branson time-trial one of the toughest he has ever done; Slipstream is already talking about their Tour de France roster.
Stage 6 Results: Ivan Dominguez (Toyota-United) gets his 2nd sprint finish win to bookend the Tour of Missouri; Hincapie crusies to overall win
High-res victory salute
September 16th update: Ivan Dominguez opens and closes the Tour of Missouri with bookend sprint finish victories. Slipstream's Brad Huff had a spectacular head-over-heal crash in the final meters, but got up and rode across the line. Dominguez's win also gives him the final sprint jersey. Earlier in the race, Kodakgallery/Sierra Nevada brought back a break and set up Dominique Rollin, who outsprinted David Cañada for the 1st intermediate sprint giving him 3 bonus seconds to move him up to 3rd in GC on the road with the same overall time as Cañada. Rollin would go on to finish 3rd in the final sprint to capture more bonus seconds. Another Canadian, Andrew Pinfold placed 2nd in the final sprint to give his Symmetrics' team three second place finishes on the week. The team's strong showing in Missouri should ensure they will no longer be overlooked in the team selection process for major races in North America.
George Hincapie crossed safely to take the overall win giving The Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team a sweep of the Tour of California, Tour de Georgia and Tour of Missouri in the United States this year and Paris-Nice and Tour de France in Europe. In total, they have 39 single-day race wins this year. So why can't a team with that much publicity not get a sponsor? The Tour of Missouri was clearly a well run event enthusiastically supported by the fans, but now with the 14 year old Navigators Insurance sponsorship ending along with Kodak Gallery and some other long-standing European teams, the sport is continuing to lose important team sponsors as pro cycling apparently grows in North America. The casual fan doesn't seem to mind, but clearly cycling's ugly backroom politics and doping scandals have become too much for many team sponsors. On a positive note, some domestic teams such as BMC Racing and Rock Racing will be adding big names to their rosters and may race in Europe. In fact, Rock Racing may sign Chris Horner and Freddie Rodriquez. Look for more balance next year which will make for more exciting domestic racing. And oh, it was great having live, high-quality video coverage each day. Thanks for tuning in. — Steve
 |
| photo courtesy of Ken Conley |
Stage 6 Results 1 Ivan Dominguez (Toyota-United) 2 Andrew Pinfold (Symmetrics) 3 Dominique Rollin (Kodakgallery/Sierra Nevada) Full Results — tourofmissouri Final General Classification 1 George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel 18.23'13" 2 William Frishkorn (USA) Team Slipstream p/b Chipotle 1.38 3 Dominique Rollin (Can) Kodakgallery.com - Sierra Nevada 2.09 4 David Cañada Gracia (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 2.21 Full GC Standings | Team Standings | Points — tourofmissouri
Full Report — VeloNewsDan Huff survives wild ride — STLToday.com
Stage 6: The final 1 km and the Brad Huff crash Photos by Ken Conley and Cyclingnews
Overall: George Hincapie (USA), Discovery Channel
Points: Ivan Dominguez (CUB), Toyota-United
Mountains: Jeff Louder (USA), Health Net-Maxxis
Best young rider: Steven Cozza (USA), Slipstream-Chipotle
Team: Slipstream-Chipotle (USA)
Most aggressive: John Freddy Parra (COL), Tecos
Post Race Interviews:
George Hincapie (TV), George Hincapie (press conf.), Johan Bruyneel, Mike Sayers, Neal Rogers interviewed by Allen Lim and
Luciano Pagliarini
Pre Race Interviews:
Dominique Rollin, David Cañada and Jeff Corbett
Stage 5 Results: Danny Pate time-trials to victory in St. Charles
 High-res victory salute and from a different angle |
 |
| Danny Pate's post race interview. Photo: Ken Conley |
Stage 5 Results 1 Danny Pate (USA) Team Slipstream p/b Chipotle (42.156 km/h) 4.50.21 2 John Fredy Parra (Col) Tecos 0.08 3 Jeff Louder (USA) Health Net p/b Maxxis 4 Glen Chadwick (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 5 Anthony Colby (USA) Colavita - Sutter Home 6 Matti Helminen (Fin) DFL - Cyclingnews - Litespeed 7 Nicholas Reistad (USA) Jelly Belly Cycling Team 8 Ian McKissick (USA) BMC Professional Cycling Team 9 Bernardo Colex Tepoz (Mex) Tecos 0.30 10 Charles Dionne (Can) Colavita - Sutter Home 2.26 Full Results — tourofmissouri General classification after stage 5 1 George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel 2 William Frishkorn (USA) Team Slipstream p/b Chipotle 1.40 3 David Cañada Gracia (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 2.22 4 Dominique Rollin (Can) Kodakgallery.com - Sierra Nevada 2.23 Full GC Standings — tourofmissouri Live Text Coverage — Cyclingnews
Full Report — VeloNews Stage 5: Schluersburg Hill 2k KOM: Colavita's Anthony Colby takes the biggest KOM of the ToM Stage 5: The final 6 km: Danny Pate catches and passes the two men off the front of the 10 men break Stage 5: The last 15km Stage 5 photos by Ken Conley
Post Race Interviews:
Danny Pate: "I was with the leaders for one turn before leaving them with 3k to go"
Glen Chadwick: "Danny Pate was working harder than anyone else"
Stage 4 Results: Luciano Pagliarini (Saunier-Duval Prodir) wins the field sprint in Columbia
 |
 |
High-res: The bike-throw photo finish (head-on view) |
The Victory Salute (photo-finish courtesy of Phoenix Sports Technology)
| September 14th update: A 10-man break stayed away for around 100 kilometers on the long, flat-to-rolling, windy run into Columbia. Among the teams chasing was Saunier-Duval Prodir, who's Brazilian sprinter, Luciano Pagliarini, would end up winning the full on field sprint in front of a large (university?) crowd after the break was caught with 8k to go. With 800m to go, Canadian Svein Tuft rolled off the front, quickly got a sizable gap of 75m and it looked like he was headed for victory. But, he seem to take the final corner too hot and lost his momentum as the field swallowed him up with 200m to go. His Symmetrics' teammate, Andrew Pinfold, then almost pipped Pagliarini at the line. Nonetheless, Pinfold gives Symmetrics their 2nd second-place finish this week. — Steve |
Full Report — VeloNews
Stage 4 Photos by Ken Conley |
Stage 4: The final 1 km: Svein Tuft's attack and the field sprint
Post Race Interviews:
Luciano Pagliarini: the winner
George Hincapie: "Our team did the work until the sprinter teams took over"
Jeff Louder and Steven Cozza: Describe the days break
Ryder Hesjedal: Wasn't but should have been voted most aggressive rider
Timmy Duggan: "With all the wind and hills it's not easier sitting in the field so you might as well be in the break"
Darren Lill: The day's most aggressive rider; training hard for the World Championships where he'll represent South Africa
Justin England:
Pre-Race Interviews:
George Hincapie: "It shouldn't be too hard to protect the lead with a headwind"
Steven Cozza: discusses recovering from his May crash and growing a new mustache
Svein Tuft: Looking smart in the UCI Americas leader jersey kit
Stage 3 Results: Levi Leipheimer wins the TT by 16 seconds over Nathan O'Neil; George Hincapie solidifies his lead
September 13th update: George Hincapie's 6th place TT performance today was more than 2 minutes back of his winning teammate, Levi Leipheimer, but enough to build up a 1 minute and 40 second advantage in GC over his best Stage 2 breakmate, Will Frischkorn. Nathan O'Neil of Health Net posted a very good time finishing just 16 seconds back of Levi. Health Net's decision not to chase yesterday's break doesn't look wise in hindsight since their representative in the break, Frank Pipp, finished over 5 minutes back today in 34th position. — Steve
 |
 |
High-res: Georgie Hincapie in action
Stage 3 Results: 18 mi TT 1 Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel) 39.37 2 Nathan O'Neill (Health Net p/b Maxxis) 0.16 3 Ben Day (Navigators) 1.32 4 Matti Helminen (DFL - Cyclingnews - Litespeed) 1.35 5 Danny Pate (Team Slipstream p/b Chipotle) 2.04 6 George Hincapie (Discovery Channel) 2.07 7 Timothy Duggan (Team Slipstream p/b Chipotle) 2.31 8 Darren Lill (Navigators) 2.39 9 Rory Sutherland (Health Net p/b Maxxis) 2.55 10 Alberto Contador (Discovery Channel) 2.57 General classification after stage 3 1 George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel 8.22.34 2 William Frishkorn (USA) Team Slipstream p/b Chipotle 1.40 3 David Canada Gracia (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 2.22 4 Dominique Rollin (Can) Kodakgallery.com - Sierra Nevada 2.23 Full Results — Cyclingnews Live Text Coverage — Cyclingnews
Full Report — VeloNews Action and press conference shots — Ken Conley/Spare Cycles Stage 3: George Hincapie TT clips: Catching Dominique Rollin and crossing the line
Post Race Interviews:
George Hincapie: "I paid for my efforts yesterday... I was the best of the rest today"
Levi Leipheimer: "Those hills are more than rollers"
Nathan O'Neil: It was pretty painful to see the break go up the road yesterday... Discovery had two cards to play for GC
Stage 3 Preview: Branson time-trial
The best places to watch the Time Trial according to branson.com
- Branson Landing - Stage 3 Start / Vendor Area / Health Fair / Awards Ceremony
- Shepherd of the Hills Complex - Stage 3 Finish
- Branson Landing Blvd - Across from Skaggs Hospital
- Ozark Scenic Drive - Behind Target & Home Depot stores
- Branson Hills Pkwy/ Hwy 248 - Near Branson Rec/Plex
- Ozark Mtn Highroad - Near Hwy 248
- Ozark Mtn Highroad - Near Hwy 76
Stage 2 Results: George Hincapie wins the bunch sprint from the winning break
The bike-throw photo finish |
High-res victory salute
| Winner's podium |
Stage 2 Results 1 George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel Professional Cycling 4.35.26 2 Frank Pipp (USA) Health Net Presented By Maxxis 3 Dominique Rollin (Can) KodakGallery Pro Cycling 4 Michael Friedman (USA) Team Slipstream Powered By Chipotle 5 Stefan Parinussa (Ger) Team Sparkasse 6 Valeriy Kobzarenko (Ukr) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 7 David Canada (Spa) Prodir-Saunier Duval 8 Andrew Guptill (USA) Colavita/Sutter Home p/b Cooking Light 9 Andrew Randell (Can) Symmetrics Cycling Team 10 William Frischkorn (USA) Team Slipstream Powered By Chipotle 0.39 11 Jonathan Garcia (USA) BMC Racing Team 12 Matthew Rice (Aus) Jelly Belly Cycling Team 13 Luciano Pagliarini (Bra) Prodir-Saunier Duval 14.17 Full Results — Cyclingnews Live Text Coverage — Cyclingnews
Full Report — VeloNewsTime gaps cause major headaches in Missouri (2nd item) — Cyclingnews Stage 2: the final 3 miles: the tactics of 12 riders up by 15 minutes at the end of the race
Post-Race Interviews: Will Frischkorn: today's most aggressive rider
Dominique Rollin: Almost took the win, but now looking for a GC podium spot
Michael Friedman: Stipstream's best hope for GC now jumped at the 300m mark
Harm Jansen: Toyota United team director explains the team's decision to focus on stage wins
Jeff Corbett: Healthnet team director is disappointed Nathan O'Neil is effectively eliminated, but his team had a man in the break
Stage 1 Results: Ivan Dominguez (Toyota-United) takes the sprint finish in Kansas City
High-res victory salute and Podium kisses |
Stage 1 Results 1 Ivan Dominguez (Cub) Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team 2 Zach Bell (Can) Symmetrics Cycling Team 3 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team Full Results — tourofmissouri
Live Text Coverage — Cyclingnews
Full Report — VeloNews Stage 1: the start — Fox 4 Kansas City Stage 1: the final km Post-Race interview with Ivan Dominguez: Won despite cramping before the finish — VeloNews
Live viewing options:
Click the screen to watch. Refresh this page if the video stalls. |
 Current Situation: Live Text Updates — Cyclingnews |
September 16th 2:00 PM CT update:High-quality Tour of Missouri video and audio is now on cycling.tv. The cycling.tv feed of the race is much better than Tour Tracker. — Steve
September 11th update: There will be a Tour of Missouri Tour Tracker with video and gps; however, from past experiences, like the Tour de Georgia and Tour of California, the Tour Tracker video and audio has been unreliable. It gets better with each event so we'll see. This time, the live feed will also be carried each day on cycling.tv (). There will be no live TV coverage, but the event will be tape-delayed and shown on Versus as a two-hour wrap-up show most likely on Saturday September 22 at 5 pm EST. As usual there is boring old, but always reliable up-to-the-minute text coverage provided by Cyclingnews ().
The Pre-Game Show
September 11th update: During the race, you can find links posted here to the best photos, video and audio that come out of this week's race. To get things started, here are the Tour of Missouri pre-game reports:Tour of Missouri kicks off Tuesday — Velonews
Missouri loves company — Cyclingnews
Pre-Race Press Conference Interviews with: George Hincapie: "The crosswinds and rolling hills could make it difficult... like racing in Belgium"
Levi Leipheimer: "I'm feeling tired... finding a new team is definitely a distraction"
Nathan O'Neil: "I pre-rode stages 3,4 and 5... the course is undulating and technical" Danny Pate: "I'm here to win the race"
Tour of Missouri '07 Promo:
Spectators should check out the stage timetables
September 8th update: Links to stage timetables have been added to the stage summary table. The timetables help spectators determine when and where to show up along the route to catch the riders. Spectators will see the very best North American riders and a few International stars in what should be a well organized race. — SteveSeptember 4th update: The Tour of Missouri has weathered the bad climate for bike racing for several reasons: "Missouri seems far enough from the epicenter of cycling to minimize the negative effect of the doping scandals. Second, the sponsors have bought into the concept that the Tour is more than a bike race; it's a rolling festival that reaches places without professional sports. Third, perhaps most important, the state got the right people involved upfront and built a consensus with its leading corporate citizens starting with meetings in early 2006." — Bicycling race is ready to roll, St. Louis Post- Dispatch
August 30th update: A lengthly radio interview with Lt. Gov. Pete Kinder, Cyclist Rory Sutherland and members of Missouri bicycle planning (
) : The state is determined to hold the event for at least three years; the Branson stage is expected to be the hardest; Kansas City is one of the least bike friendly cities in the country — Kansas City Radio
The full list of 15 teams is announced
August 27th update: The remaining teams were announced today. Here is the list of 15 teams. With only two ProTour teams, the list is a little disappointing. Granted, The Tour of Missouri is a first year stage race, but with a high 2.1 UCI event ranking, you'd expect more ProTour teams. The Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team will show up with a team stacked and ready to make this a lopsided race. Their roster will include Tour de France winner Alberto Contador and third-placed Levi Leipheimer along with Yaroslav Popovych, George Hincapie, Tony Cruz, Benjamin Noval, John Devine and Fuyu Li. Discovery Channel should dominate this race from start to finish with George Hincapie likely being the team leader during the race although Contador is ostensively the leader going in. I'm surprised Predicto-Lotto isn't among the teams considering Fast Freddie Rodriquez was at the rollout last fall.
August 18th update: Tour de France champion Alberto Contador of Spain and American Levi Leipheimer, the third-place finisher at that race, were officially announced today by the Discovery Channel Team as participants in the Tour of Missouri.
Contador and Leipheimer are both members of the Discovery Channel team which recently dominated the Tour de France with two overall podium places, two stage wins, and laying claim to the best young rider classification and overall team classification. Also included on the Discovery Channel roster in Missouri are: pre-race favorite and current U.S. National Champion George Hincapie of Greenville, S.C.; 8th place Tour de France finisher Yaroslav Popovych of the Ukraine; Tony Cruz of Long Beach, CA; 2007 3rd place finisher of the Amgen Tour of California Jason McCartney of Coralville, IA; up and coming U.S. star John Devine of Dixon, Ill., and Fuyu Li, the first Chinese athlete to compete at the elite Pro Tour level. Read more...
Versus will broadcast a tape-delay summary show
August 2nd update: The Tour of Missouri organizers have reached an agreement with Versus Network, the broadcaster of the Tour de France, to broadcast the Tour of Missouri. According to Race Director Jim Birrell, the event will be tape-delayed and shown as a two-hour wrap-up show on Sat. 9/22/07 4pm-6pm ET and Wed. 9/26/07 4pm-6pm ET. Veteran Kent Gordis will produce the telecast with talent to be announced at a later date."Americans can be hypocrites in the performance-enhancers debate"
August 1st update: Worth reading to put the recent Tour de France doping problems into perspective: Americans can be hypocrites in the performance-enhancers debate — ESPNJuly 31st update: Race route specifics will be announced on July 31st through August 2nd in the host cities.
"Stage One kicks off at 1 pm from the beautiful Country Club Plaza and takes the racers right up 47th St. through the heart of the Plaza, into downtown and through many of Kansas City's most beautiful parks, before heading north through North Kansas City, Parkville, Platte City and back, for a total of 85 miles (137 kilometers). Three five-mile circuits up Ward Parkway and down to the Plaza will offer spectators an up-close view of team tactics and any last-minute attacks before the finish, which could see speeds upwards of 50 miles per hour."
Stage two: route summary and map
Stage three through six will be announced next...
July 31st update: In addition to the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team, eight American teams have be announced including all three U.S. Pro Continental teams: Team Slipstream, HealthNet-Maxxis and Navigators Insurance. The other five teams announced are Toyota-United, Colavita-Sutter Homes, Jelly Belly, BMC and the USA National Team. According to race competition director, Kevin Livingston, six or seven mostly international teams will round out the field. Team rosters will be announced in early September. — Steve
June 27th update: Tour of Missouri news has been very quiet, but the wheels are in motion behind the scenes. The Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team has officially signed on to participate with a total of five ProTour teams expected at the start line; however, the unfamiliarity and timing of the Tour of Missouri will make attracting ProTour (European) teams harder than the Tour of California and Tour de Georgia. The event's September calendar slot puts the Tour of Missouri in direct competition with a Grand Tour, Vuelta a Espana, and the Tour of Poland which is also a ProTour event. (ProTour teams are required to participate at these two events, but not the Tour of Missouri. Discovery Channel is the only North American ProTour team.) Complicating matters further, the Tour of Britain overlaps with this first year event and it will be looking for five ProTour teams as they had for last year.
No title sponsor has been found yet which is an unfortunate trend of North American cycling events this year, but the race will go as planned. The organizers will announce the exact route next month, but you can volunteer now to marshall the course and for other jobs. — Steve
The Official Route is announced
February 8th update: The official route was announced today and it follows the general route posted here last October with a number of changes to the tentative host cities. (Checkout the stage details table and the official route map below for the revised start/finish host cities and a brief description of each stage.) 120 cyclists from approximately 15 teams will race west to south to east through 20 counties and 50 towns and cities. The cities of Kansas City, Clinton, Springfield, Branson, Lebanon, Columbia, Jefferson City, St. Charles, and St. Louis have been selected to play host to either a start and/or finish. The precise course will be unveiled this spring at press conferences in all the host cities. The event right's holder is The Hawthorne Foundation with support by the state and its tourism group. The Missouri Tourism Division has pledged $1.2 million to the event's $4 million estimated budget.
“Missouri is an absolutely beautiful state for a professional cycling race of this nature. It has rich and varied terrain. I think cyclists will be surprised by the amount of hills in the state,” said Jim Birrell, the race's director and managing partner of Medalist Sports, of whom also manage the Tour de Georgia and Amgen Tour of California. “The enthusiasm from state leaders in Jefferson City, to the civic leaders in the communities hosting this event, to the sports enthusiasts in Missouri really has been overwhelming. There already is a great grass roots buzz about this event. The event shows great promise and hasn't even started yet.”
The Tour of Missouri has been sanctioned by USA Cycling and Union Cycliste Internationale as a 2.1 rating, one of the highest in North America. Five ProTour teams have signed up including the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team although they'll probably send a team quite different than their Tour of California lineup - a lineup more suited to the flatter terrain and sprint finishes. On the Discovery Channel race calendar they currently have the Tour of Poland scheduled during the same time-frame as the Tour of Missouri. Assume for the Tour of Missouri, they'll send some of their big North American riders supported by their "B" squad. Domestic teams Team Healthnet, Toyota-United, Colavita/Sutter Home, BMC Racing and Team Priority Health have the Tour of Missouri on their team calendars and expect some other domestic teams to be there as well.
When the precise course is unveiled this spring, we'll activate the links to the stage profiles and during the event, you'll find links to the best live coverage, wrap-up coverage (results), photos and video. The organizers said they were negotiating with Versus, the cable tv network that broadcasts the Tour de France, to include the Tour of Missouri as part of the series called Cyclism Sundays.
Hats off to all those involved in this event for instantly creating the third highest-ranked stage race in the U.S. and having it take place in a unrecognized cycling state. Now lets see if Middle America shows up.
— Steve Hill, February 8th, 2007
Tour of Missouri is officially announced as the newest stage race on the USA Cycling Pro Tour
|
|
The Ivy Bend section of Lake of the Ozarks photo: Jay Dugger |
In its initial year, the Tour of Missouri will be [self] anointed one of the nation's top three stage races behind the prestigious Tour of Georgia and Tour of California races, providing an historic landmark for the sport with three major domestic stage races on American soil.
"Missouri is known as the Show-Me State, and we look forward to showing our state to spectators around the world through the Tour of Missouri," Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt said. "This event has great potential to bring economic benefits to our state and is an opportunity for us to join these world class cyclists to spread the message of the positive benefits of an active and healthy lifestyle."
Lt. Governor Peter Kinder, in his role as Chairman of the Missouri Tourism Commission remarked, "The Tour of Missouri is an exciting way to showcase our beautiful state. The entire state will be surprised and pleased by the size and economic impact this event will have on Missouri and Missouri's tourism industry. This race represents millions of additional dollars each year being pumped into our larger cities and our smaller rural areas."
The Tour of Missouri has been slated as one of only five stage races in the newly-
created USA Cycling Pro Tour, which will highlight the top multi-day races in America. The
race also will be granted a high-ranking by the Union Cycliste Internationale, the
international governing body for the sport of cycling. The race is sanctioned by USA Cycling,
the official cycling organization recognized by the USOC.
"It's a distinct pleasure to be involved with the continued evolution of the sport of professional cycling in this country, and Missouri will be a great venue for a world-class event," said Jim Birrell, the race's director and someone who has been involved in staging elite professional cycling races for more than 20 years. "The support of the state has been tremendous, and I'm sure the citizens of Missouri will enjoy this free public event while also enjoying the rolling festival that comes along with it."
The Tour of Missouri will play host to up to 16 major international professional teams, including top U.S.-based pro tour teams as well as some of Europe's top Pro Tour teams.
Fred Rodriquez, a three-time U.S. Professional Champion and a rider with the Belgium-based Davitamon-Lotto team, one of the top squads in the world was in attendance as well and commented, "The Tour of Missouri is situated perfectly for American domestic teams as well as top Americans who have raced much of the season in Europe. For an American, having three major stages in the U.S. for the first time is great news. It shows the growth of cycling as a sport. The Tour of Missouri will provide a great opportunity for Americans looking to prepare for the World Championships at the end of the season."
The mid-September dates follow the USA Professional Cycling Championships in Greenville, S.C. and before the World Championships, which are usually the last week of September. Rodriquez, who attended Tuesday's press conference at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, finished a very respectable 15th in the World Championships in Salzburg, Austria three weeks ago.
|
Will there be enough Missouri rollers to prevent six days of field or bunch sprint finishes? |
The race is expected to cover about 600 miles and highlight urban as well as rural parts of the Show Me State.
The State of Missouri is a proud supporter of the Tour of Missouri. Tourism is a $13.4 billion industry for the state of Missouri, generating more than 37.7 million domestic person trips each year. The professional cycling races in other states like Georgia and California has registered more than $40 million in quantified economic impact and tourist attraction.
Related Info:
The official site
Missouri is on the right track with its first bicycle race — St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Press Conference Photo Report — stlbiking.com
Missouri Bicycle Federation
Bicycle racers set sights on state in '07 — News-Leader, Springfield, MO (Ozarks Local News)
Tour of Missouri should excite more than just cycle enthusiasts — Rolla Daily News
Missouri Tourism and Scenic Missouri Drives
The story behind the Tour of Missouri — The Kansas City Star
« steephill.tv home page •
Email This •
Mail This • 
Mail This