Plans for Tour of Missouri announced

Forget the Tour de France. Missouri will host a professional cycling event next September.

Plans for the inaugural Tour of Missouri were announced Wednesday in a news conference at the Edward Jones Dome in downtown St. Louis. Gov. Matt Blunt and Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder made the announcement.

The race is set for Sept. 11 through 16, 2007, beginning in or around Kansas City and ending in or around St. Louis. The 600-mile, six-day race will cover both urban and rural sections of the state. It is expected to attract 16 professional cycling teams from the United States as well as Europe.

The event will be part of the USA Cycling Pro Tour, a new series of races that will award points toward an overall championship. The race will be sanctioned by USA Cycling, the cycling organization recognized by the U.S. Olympic Committee, and will receive a high ranking from the Union Cycliste Internationale. The Tour of Missouri is expected to rank behind only the Tour de Georgia and Tour of California among stage races on American soil.

"The Tour of Missouri is an exciting way to showcase our beautiful state," said Kinder, who also is chairman of the Missouri Tourism Commission. "The entire state will be surprised and pleased by the size and 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."

The pro tour will include February's Tour of California, which took place for the first time this year; and April's Tour de Georgia, established in 2003; as well as a stage race in Utah tentatively slated for August.