At first blush, now is not the time to get into the cycling business.

For the second successive year, several of the Tour de France favorites failed to either start or finish because of drug scandals.

A German television network canceled live broadcasts of the race in disgust.

Races planned in Utah and Boston were canceled because of lack of sponsorship.

And the company that owns the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team, winner of eight of the last nine Tours de France, is closing up shop.

Yet the Tour of Missouri is ready to launch. Fifteen teams of eight riders will leave Kansas City on Sept. 11, traverse almost 600 miles of Missouri roads and finish in St. Louis on Sept. 16.

The race — which has been sanctioned by USA Cycling and Union Cycliste Internationale, the sport's international governing body, with a 2.1 rating, one of the highest in North America — has arrived at the starting line despite the sport's uncertain climate.

There are several reasons for this:

Missouri seems far enough from the epicenter of cycling to minimize the negative effect of the doping scandals. Second, the sponsors have bought into the concept that the Tour is more than a bike race; it's a rolling festival that reaches places without professional sports. Third, perhaps most important, the state got the right people involved upfront and built a consensus with its leading corporate citizens starting with meetings in early 2006.

"The first-year challenge wasn't there, which was a relief," said Chris Aronholt, co-founder of Medalist Sports, which also has managed successful stage races in Georgia and California. "We could go right into the planning process."

Aronholt said the state's task force immediately grasped the advantages for tourism and health and wellness. The group included Gov. Matt Blunt, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, whose office oversees tourism, representatives of Missouri's largest companies and Medalist Sports.

Ben Jones, Kinder's chief of staff, worked on securing sponsorships with Mark Gorski, one of the founders of Tailwind Sports, which owned and managed the U.S. Postal Service team and, later, the Discovery team.

"Since this is a Missouri product, we went after Missouri companies," Jones said. "Once they realized the marketing benefits, it was a slam-dunk. No sporting event is more interactive than cycling. What other event goes right down Main Street?"

Some of the major sponsors are familiar with cycling. Edward Jones' founder Ted Jones worked to convert the Katy Trail for cyclists, and the company has sponsored cycling coverage on the Versus cable network.

"A surprising number of our clients are cyclists," said Dallas Kersey, general partner in charge of marketing at Edward Jones. "The Tour goes through a lot of communities where we have offices, and it's a good way to promote our home state."

Other companies, such as Build-A-Bear Workshop, had no connection to cycling. Founder Maxine Clark said she understands little about the sport but signed on because "there are not enough events that promote healthy passions. The competition is one thing, but getting out and enjoying the country and exercising is such a positive message."

The positive message had the potential to get lost in a series of doping scandals at the last two Tours de France. More than a dozen riders were banned from starting in 2006. The victory of Floyd Landis remains in question because of a high ratio of testosterone found in a drug test.

Four riders tested positive for banned substances during this year's race, and race leader Michael Rasmussen was fired by his team after stage 16 because he had failed to accurately report his whereabouts to doping officials.

The German network that carried live daily coverage pulled the plug, and newspapers ran headlines that screamed "Death of the Tour."

Yet sponsors in Missouri seemed unconcerned. Ed Watkins, who raised sponsorships for the St. Charles organizing committee, called the bike race "the easiest sell of my career" and noted that the city had exceeded its goal of $50,000 by raising $65,000.

Gorski said that on a statewide level, "We have not had one sponsor say, 'What's the deal?'" He expressed surprise but suggested that perhaps sports fans have been desensitized. "What effect has the steroids scandal had on baseball? Fans continue to show up. The sport moves on."

Blunt acknowledged that some people had forced him to answer questions about the state's involvement in cycling, given its drug problems.

"We assure them that we are committed to putting on an event that's free of the drug problems that marred the Tour," Blunt said, noting that riders would be tested after each stage. "Cycling is working hard and very publicly to clean itself up. They were reassured that we were working as hard as we could to provide a wholesome event."

The race here also avoided a direct hit because of its place in the U.S. sport's hierarchy. Television networks in Europe broadcast as many as 100 days of live cycling. "That's almost baseball season's worth of coverage," Gorski said. "Since the sport is more prominent there, its problems get more coverage and are a bigger cause for concern."

Aronholt noted that because cycling is a niche sport here, "the amount of pressure from sponsors in the States is less than in Europe, but that's a good thing."

Lack of sponsorship forced the Tour of Utah and the Tour de Montreal-Boston to cancel this year. Like those events, the Tour of Missouri doesn't have a title sponsor. Gorski said the difference in Missouri is that the state functions much as the ASO, the organizing body of the Tour de France, an institution the other races lacked.

Even Tailwind/Discovery's difficulty in securing a sponsor had little effect. The team was reported to have sought a three-year commitment for a total of roughly $45 million. The Tour of Missouri has a budget of $3.5 million.

"For all those years at Tailwind, we had $12 (million) to $14 million a year invested in 25 guys who had to win and had to race clean," said Gorski, who left Tailwind in 2003. "If you're a team sponsor, you don't win unless your team wins. If you become an event sponsor, you win no matter the outcome of the competition. You can accomplish your goals regardless of who wins."

Besides, not all is gloom and doom in cycling. Though Discovery is closing shop, CSC and T-Mobile will continue their sponsorships although some of their riders admitted using performance-enhancing drugs. Team Slipstream, a U.S.-based squad that will race here, has signed several prominent U.S. riders and will seek an invitation to the 2008 Tour de France.

Though German TV pulled the plug, Versus' coverage of the Tour this year drew 11 percent more viewers this year compared to 2006. Versus will cover the Tour of Missouri with a two-hour special, tentatively planned for Sept. 22.

Even Dan Schmatz, a graduate of Parkway West and a member of the BMC Pro cycling team that will race here, initially expressed some show-me skepticism.

"When I first heard about the Tour of Missouri, I thought, 'Probably not.' The details involved in putting on a stage race are unbelievable," he said. "But it's happening, and now nothing would be better than to win in front of the home crowd."

knelson@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8233