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 Monday, September 8, 2008 12:23 PM CDT |
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Missouri race attracts top bicycle riders
ST. LOUIS -- Top names in international cycling will headline the second annual Tour of Missouri professional bicycle race that gets under way Monday. George Hincapie of Team Columbia, the defending Tour of Missouri champion and one of the best-known of all American bike racers, is among cyclists who will attempt the 623-mile course that ends Sept. 14 in St. Louis. Two late additions to the Team Columbia roster include Britain's Mark Cavendish, winner of four Tour de France stages and two Tour of Italy stages this season, and three-time world time-trial champion, Michael Rogers of Australia. Both ranked in the top 10 at the recent Olympics in Beijing. The lineup also includes Christian Vandevelde of Team Garmin-Chipotle, who was top American at the 2008 Tour de France, finishing fifth overall. He was 17th in the road race at the Olympic Games and finished 3rd overall in the Amgen Tour of California. He also finished second overall at last year's Tour de Georgia. Teams include: Columbia; Team Garmin-Chipotle, HealthNet presented by MAXXIS, BMC; Bissell; Colavita Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light; Jelly Belly; Kelly Benefits Strategies-Medifast; Rock Racing; Team Liquigas of Italy; Mexico's top professional team, Tecos; Canada's best squad, Symmetrics; Rabobank of the Netherlands; and Sparkasse of Germany. "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." Eight of the 2007 Tour of Missouri host cities return. Stages include: stage 1, St. Joseph to Kansas City, a road race; stage 2, Clinton to Springfield, a road race; stage 3, Branson, an individual time trial; stage 4, Lebanon to Rolla, a road race; stage 5, St. James to Jefferson City, a road race; stage 6, Hermann to Saint Charles, a road race; and stage 7, St. Louis, a circuit race. Missouri officials are confident the race will be even better than the inaugural year that exceeded expectations. "This event proved, in only its first year, to be hugely successful for all involved, most importantly the great host communities of the tour," said Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, chairman of the Tourism Commission of Missouri. "It was very successful for the state. As a tourism vehicle, people from 73 countries caught part of the event via live Webcasts and more than 350,000 showed up on roads of the event." The Tour of Missouri is presented by the Missouri Division of Tourism and sponsored by Anheuser-Busch, Drury Inns, Edward Jones, the Missouri Farm Bureau, Emerson and Monsanto. Additional support is provided by the Missouri Wine and Grape Board, Spencer Fane, Dr Pepper, Felt Bicycle, Bissell and Capital Wind Management. For more information visit www.tourofmissouri.com. E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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