In its third edition, the Tour of Missouri will be a 2.HC race,  joining the Tour of California and the Tour of Georgia in the highest classification among stage races sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale.

According to the UCI America Tour schedule, the Tour of Missouri again will be a seven-day race, Sept. 7 to 13.

In the 2.HC designation, the number 2 designates multi-day races and HC stands for hors categorie, which is the highest designation available from the UCI. The two editions of ToM to date were sanctioned as 2.1 races.

The higher designation shows how the Tour of Missouri has increased in prominence among international race teams and the international governing body. The support the race has received in the communities across Missouri, the difficulty of the time trial in Branson and the juxtaposition of the race to the World Championships are among the selling points in the international peloton.

As a 2.HC race, the Tour of  Missouri will have a deeper international field, with more UCI tour points available to competitors therefore making it more attractive to international teams.

This year’s race included international big shooters Columbia, Garmin-Chipotle, Liquigas and Rabobank, and smaller international squads Symmetrics of Canada, Sparkasse of Germany and Tecos-Trek of Mexico, in addition to U.S. domestic squads. Twas a faster race and a deeper field than Year 1.

The first ToM had Discovery and Saunier Duval from upper level of international teams, and smaller international clubs Symmetrics, Sparkasse, Tecos, and DFL-Cyclingnews, in addition to the U.S. domestic squads headlined by Slipstream-Chipotle.

At the race this year, race director Kevin Livingston, a St. Louis native, told me that several other internationl teams had expressed interest in the race, which bodes well for the future. Also, Astana wanted to be here, but its last minute invite to the Giro in May disrupted its schedule for the rest of the year (tho it was going to take its A-team to the Vuelta regardless and would have sent a lesser caliber team here).

Next year, Astana will have Lance Armstrong on board, and if one of the area’s cancer treatment centers becomes involved with the race, that would be a tie-in to his LIVESTRONG foundation that might bring him to Missouri in addition to California.

The UCI America schedule also includes two stage races in August, the Tour de New York (2.2) on Aug. 11-16 and the Colorado Stage Race (2.1) on Aug. 21-23. Neither the  Tour of Pennsylvania nor the Tour of Utah return to the schedule.

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