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Tour of Missouri
The U.S. will have another state tour for 2007, the Tour of Missouri. This new stage race has a UCI status which means it has to invite at least five European teams (thanks for the question Hooptie).
Some quick points:
The date is September 11th to the 16th
No host cities or courses have been picked yet.
According to Fred Rodriguez the course that has been unofficialy proposed suits his style: all-around rider who can sprint. Fred said it would be a perfect lead up to Worlds.
No set amount of years annouced. Hoping to build a tradition of having the season end in Missouri that builds up to the World Championships.
They are about 120 days out from announcing host cities. Hopefully by the beginning of the new year.
Needless to say I’m pumped at the prospect of another great stage race that attracts the sport’s elite to the States!
UCI status?
It’s cool and all to have another US stage race especially for the US Pro Tour but is it realistic to expect a big draw from the elite European tour at that time of the year? The ToC & ToG can draw because it’s early in the season but in September? I could see it if the elite teams had more US riders than 2 or 3 each but that isn’t the case. Who do you see, CSC, Lotto, maybe but who else? Personally I think Disco race but they didn’t even bother to show up for Utah this summer
That is a good point. Realistically you won’t have a Boonen or top ProTour riders coming over, but guys who aren’t doing the Vuelta. Also, more ProTour teams have main sponsors that have American intersts (like Quick Step). These sponsors see the coverage in tv and magazines. And now with UCI points available, teams and riders need those. This year at Super Week riders from Milram were there racing.I think you’ll see Disco, CSC, Lotto, QuickStep and others line up. The Euros like racing here (better hotels, better weather, able to buy stuff cheap). I hung out with Gerolsteiner team at the ToC and they were going to all the computer stores and buying laptops and mp3 players. Utah wasn’t even an NRC race this year, but next year it is UCI so you’ll see Euros racing.
What is Utah’s UCI categorization? I thought it was going to be 2.2. My understanding was that ProTour teams can’t race a 2.2