KANSAS CITY, Mo. - For the first time in its three year history, the Tour of Missouri professional cycling race will run east to west, starting in St. Louis and finishing in Kansas City. The past two years, the race routed west to east starting in Kansas City to finish in St. Louis. Stage by stage courses will be announced at a later date.
“In keeping with tradition, we will change the course from year to year to keep it fresh,” said Chris Aronhalt, the managing partner of event organizers Medalist Sports of the Atlanta area. “There will be new drama on the race route and we expect a few more hills. Overall, we have some great and very excited host cities.”
The race will be contested over seven days and seven stages. There will be two circuit races (St. Louis, Kansas City), one individual time trial (Sedalia), and four point to point road races (St. Genevieve to Cape Girardeau; Farmington to Rolla; St. James to Jefferson City; Chillicothe to St. Joseph).
“I like what they’ve done,” said 2008 Tour of Missouri champion Christian Vande Velde, an American who also finished fourth overall at last year’s Tour de France. “It’s a totally different race course and it looks like they’ve added some challenging terrain. Last year’s race was very fast and tougher than it looked on paper. I look forward to coming back with my Garmin teammates to defend my title.”
Added Team Columbia’s Mark Cavendish of Britain, who won three stages of the 2008 Tour of Missouri: “Last year’s race was very well organized and promoted. I really liked it. As a sprinter, I had several opportunities to win races, which is always good. With more hills expected, we’ll see what happens.”
The overall mileage for the course is expected to be more than 600 miles. Vande Velde and his team Garmin-Slipstream is the first announced team. More teams will be announced in the spring.
The field for The Tour of Missouri is expected to be even better this year. It's been granted an upgrade to one of the top five-ranked events outside Europe by international and national federation’s for cycling last month. The upgrade will likely draw more pro tour teams to the event, which featured three last year in Garmin, Columbia and Liquigas.
Also announced was a partnership between the Tour of Missouri and The Gateway Cup in St. Louis, the largest amateur cycling event for road cycling in the country. The Gateway Cup will feature four days of racing by more than 1,100 competitive amateur cyclists. These four days of racing will lead into the Tour of Missouri women’s professional criterium, and culminate with the professional men’s event.
“The Gateway Cup group has been great to work with. We felt the partnership between the Tour of Missouri and the Gateway Cup could only grow the brand and give our core audience a chance to race and then see the best riders in the world,” said Steve Brunner, President of KOM Sports Marketing, the event’s marketing arm that works with Medalist Sports. “It’s going to be a blockbluster weekend for cycling enthusiasts Labor Day in St. Louis."
Last year, the event drew more than 435,000 spectators over seven days.
