Thousands of Missourians are expected to cheer on the world’s superstars of cycling in a 600 mile bicycle race beginning Labor Day. The seven day race will include seven stages; one individual time trial, two circuit races and four point to-point road races.

St. Louis and Kansas City will host circuit courses, where riders will race in the downtown areas. There also will be individual time trials in Sedalia and four point-to-point races, including: Ste. Genevieve to Cape Girardeau; Farmington to Rolla; St. James to Jefferson City; and Chillicothe to St. Joseph. The Kansas City circuit will feature two king of the mountain points with more than 3000 feet of climbing over 72 miles.

Beginning  in St. Louis on Monday, September 7, with a 10-lap, 75-mile circuit race is fast and flat.  Tuesday, September 8, the race will transfer south to Ste. Genevieve with a 112.4-mile road race to Cape Girardeau.

Riders from around the world will compete to be named champion of one of the largest bicycle races in America. The bike race is expected to draw even bigger competition and crowds this year since it was granted an upgrade to one of the top five-ranked events outside Europe by international and national federation's for cycling. The Tour Of Missouri (TOM) features 15 teams with eight riders each.

The upgrade has drawn top pro Tour de France teams such as Astana, Cervelo Test Team, Columbia- HTC, Garmin- Slipstream, Liquigas, Saxo Bank and Quickstep, which won 14 of 21 stages of the world's biggest race.

Superstars of the sport, in this years race include: 2008 Tour of Missouri winner Christian Vandevelde, four-time U.S. National Champion in the time trial David Zabriskie and 2007 Tour of Missouri stage winner Danny Pate, all of team Garmin-Slipstream; Britain's Mark Cavendish, a 10-time Tour de France stage winner and widely considered the world's best sprinter; 2007 Tour of Missouri champion George Hincapie; three-time world champion and 2008 Tour of Missouri second place overall finisher Mick Rogers of Australia;Norway's Thor Hushovd, the sprint jersey winner of this year's Tour de France.

Each city will host festivities as the race makes its way through the Show-Me state. To learn more:  www.tourofmissouri.com