Tour of Missouri on Versus cable network: 4-6 p.m. (ET) Wednesday

Photo by Tamara Painter
Young fans meet racers

One of the major goals of the Tour of Missouri bike race this year was to boost tourism to the Show Me state.

But the bicycle race had the spillover effect of introducing a lot of folks to professional cyclists and winning a slight measure of respect for those who ride their bikes on Missouri's streets.

Blog reader Jack Painter wrote to me after the race that his family members were thrilled to meet many of the racers. And Kansas City Star columnist Bill Graham writes that following the race, "We need to keep working on making bicycling a bigger pastime in our communities." ...   more »

There's something very odd going on with the Discovery Channel pro cycling team at the Tour of Missouri.

This year's winner of the Tour de France, Alberto Contador, is working as a domestique to the Tour's yellow jersey wearer, George Hincapie. When's that last time that happened on this team? What a difference two months can make.

After retaining the yellow jersey after Stage 4 on Friday, Hincapie told VeloNews:

"Everyone is working well. I have the reigning Tour de France champion bringing me bottles. That's not a normal thing, but it's a great honor to lead the race. I will do everything I can to keep the jersey." ...   more »

Here's an image of George Hincapie by the Spare Cycles blog author Ken Conley, a cycling photographer based in California who made the trip to Missouri to shoot the race.

It's certainly great to see Hincapie in yellow for the second day at the Tour of Missouri, especially considering the hard-luck bumps his career occasionally takes. (Ken has more pix at kwc at flickr.com .)

On Thursday's 18-mile individual time trial around Branson, Hincapie finished in 6th place, but that was good enough to not only retain the lead but put a 1-minute-40 margin over second place William Fischkorn of Slipstream in the overall standings.

The winner on the day was Discovery Channel teammate Levi Leipheimer, who added Wednesday's win to ITT victories at the Tour of California, Tour de Georgia and Tour de France this year. ...   more »

The ever-popular George Hincapie won Stage 2 of the Tour of Missouri on Wednesday, propelling himself into the yellow jersey.

The 34-year-old Greenville, SC, resident is longest-standing member of the soon-to-be-defunct cycling team sponsored by the Discovery Channel. He's the only Discovery member to have accompanied Lance Armstrong on all of his 7 Tour de France victories.

Winner of the USA Cycling pro road championship in 2006, Hincapie wore the stars and stripes at races in the US and Europe this year, but gave up the title to Levi Leipheimer at the nationals over Labor Day weekend. ...   more »

The first cyclist to wear the Tour of Missouri yellow jersey is Ivan Dominguez, a Cuban riding for the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team who wn the stage in a mass sprint.

The previous big win this year for the 31-year-old sprinter, who defected from Cuba to ride in the US, was the final stage of the Tour of California ...   more »

The understatement in this sentence in the Tour of Missouri (it starts today) pre-race write-up at VeloNews gave me a chuckle:

"Though the course lacks any major climbs, the rolling roads of Missouri are expected to take a cumulative toll."

When my friend and I rode our bicycles across Missouri on the cross-country bike tour, we suffered one climb after another through the Ozarks in the center of the state .....   more »

I received an email from Jack Painter, an avid cyclist and advocate who lives in St. Louis. He's concerned, and rightly so, that the Tour of Missouri isn't getting adequate coverage in its home state. He was surprised, and so am I, that few cyclists on a local bike ride even knew about it.

Once again: The Tour of Missouri starts Tuesday in Kansas City and ends Sunday in St. Louis. It visits many points in between. It features many of America's top cyclists, as well as the winner of the 2007 Tour de France.

Here's Jack's email:

Worried? You and all cycling advocates should be. I won't go into great detail but, if I wasn't a daily reader of numerous cycling blogs, I would have no idea that a major cycling event is to be held here ...   more »

Here are some suggestions on where to watch the Tour of Missouri, beginning Tuesday in Kansas City and ending Sunday in St. Louis.

The Tour of Missouri website is linking the Adobe Live Tour Tracker (video, chatroom, GPS, VeloNews updates) and live video from Justin.tv (live video feed is expected to begin between 12:30 and 1:30 p.m. CST on Wednesday, according to website).

CyclingNews will provide live updates from the Tour of Missouri as the race progresses. Also check out its pre-race coverage with stage maps and profiles and start list. VeloNews is also covering live ...   more »

The first big stage bicycle race for Missouri and one of the last for the Discovery Channel pro cycling team begins Tuesday in Kansas City.

The Tour of Missouri is the last-man-standing of three multi-stage bicycle races in the US that were supposed to launch this year but folded before reaching the starting line. (Tour of Utah and Montreal-Boston Tour didn't make it.)

Meanwhile, the Discovery Channel is sending some of its most popular cyclists to compete -- including Americans George Hincapie and Levi Leipheimer, as well as Alberto Contador of Spain, winner of the 2007 Tour de France...   more »