The Tour of Missouri bid farewell to the Discovery Channel Cycling Team last year, and it looks as if the Tour of Mo. will welcome the core of Discovery back this fall — in the form of the Astana Cycling Team.

The Tour of Missouri, which is scheduled for Sept. 8 through Sept. 14, is on Astana’s race calendar for 2008, and new team general manager Johan Bruyneel, the former director sportif and a part-owner of Discovery, took  Discovery’s staff and some of its top riders with him when he took over as Astana’s boss after last season.

Of course, no official announcement has been made, and at this early stage it’s hard to predict whether the likes of Tour de France winner Alberto Contador or U.S. road champion Levi Leipheimer – both now with Astana — would ride again in Missouri. But Bruyneel, the brains behind Lance Armstrong’s seven Tour de France victories and Contador’s TdF win last year, thoroughly enjoyed his visit to the Show-Me State last year, so it’s no surprise that he’d want to return to Missouri for another go-round with Astana, which is sponsored by Khazakstan.

After the Tour of California field was announced today, 10 Speed did a little Googling and came up with five other teams that have the Tour of Missouri on their schedules — four U.S. continental teams and one from Canada.

From the U.S. …

–  Toyota-United

– Rock Racing

– Colavita/Sutter Home-Cooking Light

– Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast

And our friends from north of the border …

– Symmetrics

10 speed would be surprised if defending team champion Slipstream-Chipotle and High Road Sports (formerly T-Mobile), with defending Tour of Missouri yellow jersey winner George Hincapie, don’t have the Tour of Mo. on their schedules when the skeds are sorted out and finally posted on their websites.

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