MetroSports reporter and MS150 rider Matt Fulks is excited about the upcoming Tour of Missouri…

BEHIND THE STATS
Tour of Missouri to kick off in Kansas City
By Matt Fulks

There’s something about the end of a race. Playing mind games when the body’s ready to quit. Carefully eyeing the competition. Jockeying for position as your heart pounds a little harder from both exhaustion and adrenaline. Waiting for the precise and perfect moment to make the move which will result in a win.

Fans of NASCAR, the IRL or any other automobile-type race would convince you that’s a scenario for one of their races. Fans of the Winter-X Games might try to convince you that’s a scenario for the snowboardo-cross, or whatever they call that sometimes entertaining race.

But in no other sport is the finish as exciting as often as it is in a road cycling event. Cyclists, traveling at high speeds — at least high speeds to a turtle like me, making a mad dash to the finish line, while vying for position, is about as exhilarating as it gets. (That’s not even mentioning the possibility that one miscalculation could send several cyclists skidding down the road.)

You’re not far from getting an up close and personal look at what I mean, thanks to the first Tour of Missouri, which will begin in Kansas City with an out-and-back road race, organizers announced Thursday during a press conference unveiling the event’s host cities at the Intercontinental Hotel in Kansas City.

The Tour of Missouri, scheduled for Sept. 11-16, is a cycling stage race similar to the famed Tour de France. It will feature more than 120 cyclists from more than 15 countries attempting to cover approximately 600 miles in six stages.

In addition to starting in Kansas City and finishing in St. Louis, other host cities and towns include Clinton, Springfield, Lebanon, Columbia and Jefferson City. The exact routes for each day will be announced this spring.

“What you have is the perfect storm,” said race director Jim Birrell. “You need the perfect storm to have a great race. We have support from (Governor Matt Blunt) and (Lt. Governor Peter Kinder’s) office down to civic leaders in big, mid-size and small towns. It has been really great to see how cities have responded to this event across the state.”

Big deal, you say, a bike race. Well, it is. The Tour of Missouri is already being billed as one of the top three professional cycling stage races in the United States this year, along with the Tour de Georgia and the Tour of California. (Incidentally, according to organizers of the Tour of Missouri, similar races in Georgia and California have “registered more than $40 million in quantified economic impact and tourist attraction,” with at least 500,000 spectators at the respective events.)

So, even if you just have a faint curiosity of the competitive sport that that Lance Armstrong fella helped bring to the mainstream’s attention a few years ago, this is an incredible event and a chance to see some of the best cyclists in the world.

The Discovery Channel team, which Armstrong owns and includes riders such as Tour de France hopefuls George Hincapie and Levi Leipheimer, is scheduled to compete. And, by the way, last year’s Tour de France winner, Floyd Landis, also won the events in Georgia and California.

“The Tour of Missouri is very exciting for me personally,” said native St. Louis cyclist Dan Schmatz, who rides for the BMC Professional Cycling Team. “For someone who grew up riding these roads, it will be great to race against some of the world’s best. Missouri is a great state for cycling and I think the riders will be surprised by the terrain here.”

Indeed. If you’ve ever gone on a recreational ride throughout the state or participated in something such as the MS150 in either Kansas City or the Ozarks, you’re familiar with the varied terrain.

As a wannabe roadie who’s ridden in the Kansas City MS150 the last two years, I’m as giddy as an 8-year-old girl. I’m one of those obsessed people who keeps his TV on the Versus Network (formerly known as the Outdoor Life Network) for three weeks in July for the round-the-clock coverage of the Tour de France.

And now, thanks to the Tour of Missouri, we’ll get close to the Tour de France (without having to experience the traveling and the French). And possibly experience one of sports’ most thrilling finishes.

“Behind the Stats” appears each Thursday. Be sure to look for Matt’s latest book, “More Than the Score,” at Kansas City area Barnes & Noble stores or at the Kansas City Store. Matt can be seen on Metro Sports Talk each Monday night around 6:45. To contact Matt, send e-mail to mattfulks@hotmail.com.