A ‘deceivingly tougher’ Tour of Missouri will challenge the field of 120 world-class 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.

Stage 6 starts in Hermann at 12:30 PM on Saturday, September 13, and is expected to end in St. Charles around 4:15 PM.  The 96-mile road race will include three Mich ULTRA King of the Mountain points and two Edward Jones sprint lines in the towns of Augusta and O’Fallon.  The race into St. Charles is considered one of the most pivotal of the overall tour.

“We’re thrilled the city of St. Charles will have an opportunity to participate in Tour of Missouri as a destination point again this year,” said David Rosenwasser, director of the Greater Saint Charles Convention and Visitors Bureau.  “As was the case in 2007, we’re hoping for a gorgeous day so that thousands of spectators will rally at Frontier Park in historic St. Charles.  This is a ‘must see’ event as the excitement associated with professional cyclists concluding Stage 6 is comparable to none,” he said.   

Stage 6 features the most rugged stretch of terrain in the overall race.  During the stage, cyclists will face two 1.2 kilometer (about 1,400 yards) steep climbs on Old Colony and Schluersburg Roads.  Highways 100 and 94 will guide the riders to a finish along the banks of the Mississippi River in historic St. Charles, where massive crowds greeted the cyclists last year.  The course will finish from the north this year, instead of the south as in the 2007 Tour, dropping down to the river before a 1 kilometer flat run to the finish line at about the same location as last year’s race, which featured a solo break away win by American Danny Pate of Colorado Springs and team Slipstream Chipotle.

“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.”

Added Birrell: “In response to surveying a lot of the cyclists from last year’s race, we’ve made i