Columbia will bring Mark Cavendish, a four-stage winner at this year’s Tour de France, to the Tour of Missouri.

This is huge. Given Tom Boonen’s issues this year, Cavs is probably the No. 1 sprinter in the world, and he could easily win four-five stages in the Tour of Mo. Seriously, he is that good, and if stages come down to a bunch sprint, Cav’s is the guy, as he showed in the TdF.

The Tour of Missouri is shaping up to be a titantic and epic battle between the U.S.’s top two teams– Columbia and Garmin-Chipotle.

Jonathan Vaughters, the director sportif of Garmin-Chipotle, is on record as saying his team will be here to win. And Columbia owner Bob Stapleton has said Columbia will bring a team to defend George Hincapie’s yellow jersey from the inaugural ToM.

So, while last year’s Tour of Missouri was a going away party for the Discovery Channel team and a coming out party for then-named Slipstream=Chipotle, this year’s ToM is a battle for surpremacy in American cycling.

Both lineups are stacked and geared to win. Here are the just-released rosters for each team, followed by a ToM release about Cavs.

2008 Tour of Missouri
Rosters (as of 27 August)
COLUMBIA (THR) USA
1 HINCAPIE George USA
2 CAVENDISH Mark GBR
3 BARRY Michael CAN
4 DEVINE John USA
5 EISEL Bernhard AUT
6 LEWIS Craig USA
7 PINOTTI Marco ITA
8 ROGERS Michael AUS

LIQUIGAS (LIQ) ITA
11 KREUZIGER Roman CZE
12 NIBALI Vincenzo ITA
13 CHICCHI Francesco ITA
14 DA ROS Gianni ITA
15 GUARNIERI Jacopo ITA
16 MUGERLI Matej SLO
17 AGNOLI Valerio ITA
18 CATALDO Dario ITA

GARMIN/CHIPOTLE (TSL)USA
Presented by H3O
21 VANDEVELDE Christian USA
22 CALDWELL Blake USA
23 COZZA Steven USA
24 FARRAR Tyler USA
25 FRISCHKORN Will USA
26 HOLLOWAY Daniel USA
27 PATE Danny USA
28 ZABRISKIE David USA

RABOBANK (RB3) NED
31 BEIMA Marcel NED
32 BERKHOUT Thomas NED
33 VAN EMDEN Jos NED
34 VAN POPPEL Boy NED
35 RABOU Thomas NED
36 REUS Kai NED
37 VAN STAYEN Michael NED
38 BOI Jetse NED

SPARKASSE (TSP) GER
41 BAUMANN Eric GER
42 FALTUS Richard CZE
43 FREY Sebastian GER
44 LAPTHORNE Darren AUS
45 MULLER Dirk GER
46 RUIJGH Rob NED
47 SCHILLINGER Andreas GER
48 WACKERAGEL Lars GER

TECOS (TUA) MEX
De la Universidad Autonoma de
Guadalaiara
51 OYARZUN Carlos CHI
52 CERVANTES Elliot MEX
53 TEPOZ Bernardo MEX
54 COLUNGA Lui MEX
55 DIAZ Omar MEX
56 ARANDA Juan Pablo MEX
57 HERNANDEZ Luis MEX
58 RODRIGUEZ Ricardo MEX

SYMMETRICS (SYM) CAN
61 TUFT Svein CAN
62 WOHLBERG Eric CAN
63 BELL Zachary CAN
64 RANDELL Andrew CAN
65 PINFOLD Andrew CAN
66 EVANS Cameron CAN
67 ROUTLEY Will CAN
68 ANDRESON Ryan CAN

BMC RRACING (BMC) USA
71 CRUZ Antonio USA
72 WYSS Danilo SUI
73 BOOKWALTER Brent USA
74 SAYERS Mike USA
75 LILL Darren RSA
76 LOUDER Jeffry USA
77 GARCIA Jonathan USA
78 KOHLER Martin SUI

BISSELL (BPC) USA
PRO CYCLING
81 JACQUES‐MAYNES Ben USA
82 ZIRBEL Tom USA
83 PELTONEN Garrett USA
84 ZWIZANSKI Scott USA
85 VENNELL Jeremy NZL
86 ENGLAND Richard AUS
87 OLSON Aaron USA
88 KING Edward USA

ROCK RACING (RRC) USA
91 CREED Michael USA
92 DAWSON Peter AUS
93 GRAJALES Cesar COL
94 HERNANDEZ Sergio USA
95 LEOGRANDE Kayle USA
96 MAGNELL Sterling USA
97 OLLERENSHAW Doug USA
98 WISCOVITCH Jeremiah USA

TOYOTAUNITED
(TUP) USA
101 BALDWIN Chris USA
102 CLARKE Jonathan AUS
103 DAY Benjamin AUS
104 DOMINGUEZ Ivan CUB
105 MANION Caleb AUS
106 ROLLIN Dominque CAN
107 STEVIC Ivan SCG
108 VOGELS Henk AUS

HEALTH NET (HNM) USA
Presented by Maxxis
111 SUTHERLAND Rory AUS
112 GRITTERS Kyle USA
113 JOHNSON Tim USA
114 O’BEE Kirk USA
115 MENZIES Karl AUS
116 MURPHY John USA
117 PIPP Frank USA
118 ZAJICEK Phil USA

COLAVITA/SUTTER HOME (COL) USA
Presented by Cooking Light
121 COLBY Anthony USA
122 BORRAJO Alejandro ARG
123 ARTACHO Gustavo ARG
124 HAEDO Lucas Sebastian ARG
125 GUPTILL Andy USA
126 ROMERO Luis Amaran CUB
127 WAMSLEY Kyle USA
128 FRATTINI Davide ITA

KELLY BENEFIT STRATEGIES (KBM)USA
Medifast
131 BAJADALI Andrew USA
132 BOWMAN Dan USA
133 CANDELARIO Alex USA
134 LACOMBE Kevin CAN
135 MUMFORD Reid USA
136 SPINELLI Justin USA
137 SUNDT Jonathan USA
138 VEILLEUX David CAN

JELLY BELLY CYCLING (JBC) USA
141 TUCKERMAN Aaron NZL
142 RICE Matthew AUS
143 SANDERSON Nicholas AUS
144 HUFF Brad USA
145 VAN ULDEN Bernard USA
146 REISTAD Nick USA
147 LANGE Michael USA
148 POWERS Jeremy USA

WORLD’S FASTEST SPRINTER AND THREE-TIME WORLD CHAMPION

 AND ITALIAN TIME TRIAL CHAMP HIGHLIGHT REMAINDER OF TOUR OF MISSOURI RIDERS ANNOUNCED

Mark Cavendish,  Michael Rogers and Marco Pinotti join powerful Team Columbia squad

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (August 28, 2008) – A star-studded field, including Britain’s Mark Cavendish (Columbia), winner of four Tour de France stages and two Tour of Italy stages this season, and three-time world champion time trialist Michael Rogers (Columbia) of Australia, were announced today by the Tour of Missouri, a world-class 623-mile race through the Show Me State, September 8-14.

Cavendish and Rogers, both of whom are coming off top 10 finishes at the Beijing Olympics, come to the Tour of Missouri with major titles in their careers.  Cavendish will cap a near-perfect season of major tour stage wins, including the first stage of the Tour of Ireland this week.  Rogers finished ninth in the 2006 Tour de France, suffered through Epstein Barr Syndrome and mononucleosis the past two years and appears fully recovered, finishing fifth in the Olympic Road Race and eighth in the Olympic time trial. 

Team Columbia, the world’s No. 1 team for most of this year, has brought these two powerhouse riders to win stages and also help four-time Olympian and two-time U.S. national road race champion George Hincapie (Columbia) defend his title as 2007 Tour of Missouri overall title.  Hincapie, who is also well-known for his long tenure (13 years) in the Tour de France, won the yellow jersey after Missouri’s stage two last year, and wore it all the way to the finish line in St. Louis.

“Columbia obviously is one of the top teams in the world, if not the top team right now,” said Kevin Livingston, a former world-class professional now serving as the event’s competition director. “We’ve assembled a great field this year and Columbia’s deep roster is indicative of that quality.”

Columbia will also be bringing the previously announced Hincapie, Austrian strongman Bernhard Eisel, Canada’s Michael Barry, young emerging Americans John Devine and Craig Lewis, and three-time  Italian time trial national champion and Tour of Italy stage winner, Marco Pinotti

The remainder of the peloton will include national and world champions, Olympic contenders, and major race winners from Toyota United, Team Rabobank, Jelly Belly, Rock Racing, Bissell Pro Cycling, BMC Racing, Colavita/Sutter Home Presented by Cooking Light and Kelly Benefits Strategies-Medifast. 

The rosters of the nine teams (see attached) is in addition to teams already announced: Health Net Presented by Maxxis, Canadian-based Symmetrics Cycling, Mexican-based Team Tecos, Team Sparkasse from Germany and Team Liquigas. 

Leading a very strong team of Tour of Missouri veterans from Toyota United is Ivan Dominguez, winner of the first and last stages last year, and Dominique Rollin, winner of third place overall in Missouri and stage winner at the Amgen Tour of California, one of America’s biggest races.   Also coming are Ivan Stevic, B (small countries) World Road Race Champion and Australian strong man and overall contender Ben Day.

Jelly Belly Cycling Team will bring two Missouri natives to the Tour. Brad Huff of Springfield, who ended his 2007 Tour of Missouri in a horrifying crash as he raced up to the St. Louis finish line, will join Michael Lange of St. Louis in their home state. Racing with them will be 2007 Redlands Classic winner Andrew Bajadali, and Alex Candelario, 2007 Tour de Nez champion.

Tour de France team Rabobank, consistently one of the top world teams the last 10 years, will bring a promising young development squad including Boy Van Poppel, son of one of the most successful Dutch road sprinters of all time. Jean-Paul Van Poppel.

Rock Racing brings Michael Creed, a two-time under-23 national time trial champion and part of a major breakaway in this year’s Amgen Tour of California, and Cesar Grajales, winner of the tortuous Brasstown Bald stage of the 2004 Tour de Georgia—ahead of Lance Armstrong.

Bissell will be led by Ben-Jacques Maynes, leader of the National Race series for part of last season, time trialist Tom Zirbel and Richard England of Australia, a stage winner at this year’s Tour de Georgia.

BMC, which races part of its season in Europe and part in North America, will be led by 2000 Olympian Tony Cruz, Swiss sprinter Danilo Wyss and 2007 Tour of Missouri Michelob ULTRA KOM champion Jeff Louder.  Long-time professional Michael Sayers will end his career at Missouri riding for BMC.

Colavita Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light has been one of the hottest teams on the domestic circuits. They will be led by Anthony Colby, winner of several races this season, and Argentinean sprinters

Alejandro Borrajo and Lucas Sebastian Haedo, brother of sprinter J.J. Heado.

Kelly Benefits rounds out the final team announced led by Andrew Bajadali and sprinter Alex Candelario.

“Overall, this is a stronger field than last year’s Tour of Missouri,” said Livingston.  “Each year, the teams racing on the American circuit get stronger and stronger. Along with the top team from Canada (Symmetrics), Mexico (Tecos) and big teams that rider pre-dominantly in Europe (Columbia, Liquigas, Rabobank, Sparkasse, and Garmin Chipotle), the should be very competitive.”

###