We got a couple of good questions through e-mail following the announcement August 4 of the teams that will participate in the Tour of Missouri. They were so good we thought that other folks might be wondering the same things. So we’ll post them in Q&A form.

Please keep them coming.

Q: Where’s Astana?

A: Excellent question. Last year, the Discovery Channel cycling team used the Tour of Missouri as its sendoff from the pro ranks. George Hincapie, Levi Leipheimer and Alberto Contador were treated like royalty here, and their presence created a buzz and drew a lot of casual fans to the roads to see just what this pro cycling thing was all about. Their participation was one of the keys to a successful launch of the Tour of Missouri.

Who knew last fall that the bulk of the riders and team director Johan Bruyneel would morph into a revamped version of Team Astana? Who knew that early this year, both the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France would snub Astana, citing its past doping problems? Who knew that the Vuelta a Espana, which runs at the same time as the Tour of Missouri, would greet Astana with open arms?

At the time, Astana’s paticipation here looked good, as Bruyneel told my colleague, Dave Luecking, at the Tour de Gerogia.

Who knew that the Giro would change its mind and extend a last-minute invitation? Who knew that Alberto Contador would win the Giro on a week’s notice and have a chance to win all three Grand Tours in a 14-month span?

So, Astana, Contador and Bruyneel have ample reason for sending a fully loaded squad to the Vuelta, Aug. 30-Sept. 21. They are, to use a Johan-ism, “super-motivated” because:

1. Contador can complete the triple,which would be a huge feather in his cap. But he’ll need a really strong team around him.

2. Johan wants to thank the organizers of the Vuelta for their show of faith at a time when they were under pressure to do otherwise. What better way than sweeping the podium, with Contador, Leipheimer and Andrea Kloden?

3. Astana also must send a team to the Tour of Poland, a UCI Pro Tour event. With Chris Horner injured and Vladimir Gusev kicked off the team for abnormal blood readings, the ranks are a little thin for a third event.

4. A strong performance in Spain, combined with the booting of Gusev, shows once again that Astana is winning and riding clean, giving Johan yet another chance to stick it to the Tour de France.

But don’t be surprised if Astana pops up here next time around. Bruyneel has several reasons for racing on U.S. soil. It keeps his bike sponsor, Trek, happy. And, he’s opened a cycling academy in New Mexico. He also was pretty touched by the whole Goodbye to Discovery sendoff last year in St. Louis.

Q: The official race web site for the Tour of Missouri suggests that we’ll see riders like David Millar of Garmin-Chipotle and Mark Cavendish of Team Columbia here. Any chance of that happening?

A: We won’t know for sure until complete rosters are announced in a couple weeks. And you’re correct: the team profiles on the web site hint at a lot of big names. It would be great to see them on the roads here. But, imagine you’re the team directors of Garmin-Chipotle and Columbia and also have been invited to the Tour of Britain, which ALSO runs at the same time as the Tour of Missouri.

Where would riders like Millar and Cavendish, both loyal subjects of the crown, attract bigger crowds and bigger sponsorship money? Britain. So, I’d say they are more likely to ride on home soil. But the logic also applies to Americans such as Christian Vande Velde, Dave Zabriskie, Danny Pate and Will Frischkorn. They’re recognizable faces in the States and more likely to race here than Britain. And, George Hincapie already is committed to riding here for Columbia.

We’ll know more in a couple of weeks, but the organizers are right: this year’s field will be deeper and more talented than last year.

Q: Several questions about coverage.

1. Will Versus televise the Tour of Missouri, or will it only be online like it was last year?
2. I bought the Jan-Feb 2008 issue of ROAD-The Journal of Road Cycling and Culture, and it had a nice
review of the 2007 Tour of Missouri with excellent photographs. Do you know of any other publications
that cover all of the Pro Tour events around the world and/or the United States?
3. Will you be publishing a separate section for this years race, as you did last year?

A: In order, here are the answers.

1. Versus will televise a two-hour wrap-up show on Sept. 28. FSN Midwest will produce a half-hour highlight show every evening of the race.
2. Velonews will include a large pullout preview section on the Tour of Missouri in an edition in late August or early September. It was quite good last year, and I expect the same this year.
3. And, yes, the Post plans to publish a special section on September 7. All the content will be available on the Tour of Missouri page of our website.