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2009 Tour of Missouri Bike Race to Cross Farmers’ Electric’s Service Territory

The Tour of Missouri will be traveling through the west side of Farmers’ Electric’s service territory this month. A total of seven stages will be held during the annual race, with the next to last stage departing Chillicothe and heading west. The riders will leave Chillicothe at 1 p.m. on Saturday, September 12, finishing their ride late that afternoon in St. Joseph.

The Tour of Missouri begins in Kansas City on September 7 and ends in St. Louis on September 13. A number of the top cycling teams in the world are taking part in the race, including Lance Armstrong’s team. At this writing, it has not been confirmed that Armstrong will be participating in the race. Teams that have committed to the race include Tour de France team entrants Astana, Columbia-HTC, Cervelo Test Team, Garmin-Slipstream, Liquigas, Quickstep and Saxo Bank.

The route the cyclists will take that travels across the FEC service territory is as follows:

  • Route 190 West to Route V (two miles northof Lock Springs;
  • Route V north to Highway 6;
  • Highway 6 West to 13 Highway (Gallatin);
  • Circle Gallatin square, back to highway 6;
  • Highway 6 East to Route DD;
  • North on DD to Highway 69;
  • Highway 69 North to Route Z

At this point, the route then travels west on Route Z, crossing Interstate 35, into the service territory of United Electric Cooperative. This is the first time the Tour of Missouri has traveled across FEC’s service territory. For the first time since its inaugural year, the 2009 Tour will route east to west, starting in St. Louis and finishing in Kansas City. The past two years, the race routed west to east, starting in Kansas City and finishing in St. Louis.

The race will be contested over seven days and seven stages. There will be two circuit races (St. Louis, Kansas City), one individual time trial (Sedalia), and four point to point road races (Ste. Genevieve to Cape Girardeau; Farmington to Rolla; St. James to Jefferson City; Chillicothe to St. Joseph). The overall mileage for the course is expected to be more than 600 miles.

Last year, the event drew more than 435,000 spectators over seven days. Missouri Tourism noted a direct and indirect economic impact of almost $30 million to the state.

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