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A ‘deceivingly tougher’ Tour of Missouri will challenge the field of 120 worldclass
cyclists from
15 elite professional teams when they line up for the September 8th – 14th Tour of Missouri,
race organizers announced today in the overall race finish city St. Louis.

Each of the seven courses for the weeklong event were announced by Missouri Lt. Governor
Peter Kinder, race director Jim Birrell and twotime stage winner Ivan Dominguez of the
U.S.’s top domestic squad Toyota United Pro Cycling Team.
“Again, the great state of Missouri will play host to these world class athletes from more
than 20 countries this September,” said Lt. Governor Kinder. “This year, we’ve worked to make
the course more challenging and with a few new twists, including new terrain, new cities,
homage to our Armed Forces on September 11th and another grand finale in St. Louis.”
After several preevents in the Kansas City metro area, Stage 1, Monday, September 8th,
will start in new host city St. Joseph, and pose a bigger challenge for cyclists through rolling
terrain along the Missouri River before a circuit finish in Kansas City’s Country Club Plaza
district for the second straight year. Stage 2, Tuesday, September 9th, will be the most flat but longest stage, routing from Clinton
to Springfield. It is a remake of last year’s course, which proved to be the decisive stage of the
race after a long breakaway put race champion George Hincapie into the race lead for good.
Stage 3, Wednesday, September 10th, remakes last year’s time trial course in Branson,
and has been cited as perhaps the most pivotal stage of the race, starting at The Landing and
finishing at Shepherd of the Hills. Stage 4, Thursday, September 11th, is a new course that will take cyclists from Lebanon to new host city Rolla in south central Missouri. Cyclists will be challenged by six sizeable hills, in perhaps the toughest stage, to the finish on a college campus at the University of MissouriRolla.

The race also will feature a sprint through Fort Leonard Wood Military Reservation to
commemorate U.S. Armed Forces.

Stage 1 – Monday, September 8 / St. Joseph to Kansas City / 90miles
/ road race / Start: 12:30 pm – Est. finish: 4:30 pm
The city of St. Joseph will play host to a Tour stage for the first time, as the race kicks off in front of City Hall, and only 100 yards away from a monument to the
Pony Express. Riders on two wheels, rather than four legs, will exit town on a picturesque parkway before feasting on the first Mich ULTRA King of the
Mountain competition less than 20 miles into the overall race. The first 50plus
miles feature a series of relentless small, uncategorized climbs, some of which
form a panoramic view of the Missouri River. This differs from the relatively flat outandback
course featured on the course last year for Stage 1. The first
points toward the Edward Jones Sprint Jersey will be up for grabs in Platte City and Parkville en route to the final three circuits around the Country Club Plaza
District and Ward Parkway in Kansas City. In a wrinkle different from last year, the circuits in Kansas City will be reversed and feature a 300meter
climb to a
Mich ULTRA KOM point. The finish will be fast and furious with cyclists descending at about 45 miles per hour before winding up for the flat sprint ending nearlast year’s finish. Last year’s stage winner: Ivan Dominguez (Cuba), Toyota United

Stage 2 – Tuesday, September
9 / Clinton to Springfield / 126miles
/ road race / Start: 11:00
am – Est. finish: 4:15 pm
The longest stage of this year’s race, this course is a remake of
last year’s decisive stage of the inaugural Tour of Missouri. The stage starts in historic Clinton,
near the head of the statelong Katy Trail, and winds through flat, pastoral regions of western Missouri en route to the finish in Springfield. Last year, spectators witnessed George Hincapie steal the stage and essentially the overall race during this flat stage. The race features three water ways. Edward Jones sprint points are featured in the towns of Stockton and Willard en route to three finish circuits
around the downtown of Missouri’s third largest city. There are no KOM points on this stage.
Last year’s stage winner: George Hincapie (U.S.A.), Discovery Channel

Stage 3 – Wednesday, September 10 / Branson / 18 miles / individual time
trial / First cyclist: 11:00 am – Finish: 2:00 pm
Another remake of a 2007 course, many teams have already cited this stage as
the most pivotal toward the overall win. Starting at The Landing, a new
development on Lake Taneycomo off downtown Branson, cyclists will be
challenged by what 2007 overall race champion George Hincapie called “the
hardest time trial course” he’d ever ridden. In reversed order of their placing,
cyclists will go off the start ramp in intervals of one minute each until the final
10, which will go off at twominute
intervals. The course features the rich hill
terrain around Missouri’s national tourist hotspot.
It is an 18mile
grind over
three climbs, the last being a two and halfmile
haul up to Shepherd of the
Hills Homestead and Outdoor Center, the location where tourism in the
Ozarks was started in 1907. It was also made famous by the book and movie by
the same title. The movie starred John Wayne.
Last year’s stage winner: Levi Leipheimer (U.S.A.), Discovery Channel

Stage 4 – Thursday, September 11 / Lebanon to Rolla / 95
miles / road race / Start: 11:00 am – Est. finish: 3:00 pm
Playing host to a start for the second consecutive year, Stage 4
starts in the southcentral
agricultural hub city of Lebanon. The
AllAmerican
city is an appropriate place to start on September
11, as race organizers have special plans to route through Fort
Leonard Wood Military Reservation as a tribute to U.S. Armed
Forces. Edward Jones sprint lines will be contested at Fort
Leonard Wood and Richland en route to a finish adjacent to the
campus of the University of MissouriRolla.
The race also will
feature long stretches in the Mark Twain National Forest and
three Mich ULTRA KOMs, with perhaps the toughest climb, a
nasty 12percent
halfmile
climb outside of Waynesville. The
route also tracks on and off the famous Route 66. Touted as
‘deceivingly tough”, this may be the surprise stage of the race,
according to race organizers.

Stage 5 – Friday, September 12 / St. James to
Jefferson City / 108 miles / road race / Start: 2:00
pm – Est. finish: 6:30 pm
The quaint wine country town of St. James will play
host for the first time to a stage of the Tour. The 2
p.m. send off is the latest start of this year’s tour and
route to Missouri’s capital city of Jefferson City for a
late finish under the shadows of the Capitol’s dome.
Jefferson City was a start city in the 2007 race. Now
in the limelight as a primetime
finish, the hilly streets
of the capital city will undoubtedly put pain into riders
leg as the last 300 meters of the race finish uphill,
which could produce time gaps between leaders of
the stage. The race will feature one Mich ULTRA
KOM point, and Edward Jones sprint points in the
towns of Bland and Vienna. “A never ending series
of small hills,” is how one course director describes
this stage.

Stage 6 – Saturday,
September 13 /
Hermann to St. Charles
/ 96 miles / road race /
Start: 12:30 pm – Est.
finish: 4:15 pm
Starting in the Bavarian
town of Hermann, which
hosted a sprint line last
year, cyclist will race
along Highways 100 and
94, rolling through a
series of three Mich
ULTRA KOM points, in
one of the most rugged
stretches of the overall
race. During this race,
cyclists will face two 1.2
kilometer (or about 1,400
yards) steep climbs on
Old Colony and
Schluersburg Roads.
Edward Jones sprint lines
will be featured in the
towns of Augusta and
O’Fallon. The race will
finish on the banks of the
Mississippi River in
historic St. Charles,
coming in from the north
this year. Last year’s
stage winner: Danny
Pate (U.S.A.), Slipstream
– Chipotle

Stage 7 – Sunday, September 14 / St. Louis / 70 miles circuit / Start: 2 pm – Est. finish: 4:50 pm
The grand finale of the 2008 Tour will again finish with a circuit race in St. Louis, Missouri’s largest
metropolis and one of America’s great sports cities. The start and finish line will move from Union
Station to Tucker and Market in front of St. Louis’s City Hall. That is not the only change. This year’s
course will route five times and encompass a large part of Forest Park, routing on Lagoon and
Government Drives within the Park, and past the Museum, before returning through the Central West
End. Last year’s stage winner: Ivan Dominguez (Cuba), Toyota United