Save tour de missouri !!!!!!!

[gwessel2]

Please check out http://www.tourdemissouri.com. It was just announced that Governor Jay Nixon is freezing the money set aside for the tour and may decide to cancel it. This is a big deal. There are several big name teams already registered to ride such as Astana,Columbia, & Garmin and yes these teams do bring the big names. This is a UCI sanctioned race and we just got upgraded to a 2.Hor catergory which ranks us with the Tour de California. We are now the only two tours outside Europe with such a ranking. There was no Tour De Georgia this year which was disappointing. Tour de Missouri is a great race that is probably one of the most affordable for fans to get to. This race also makes a big economic impact for a lot of little people who are financially hurting. Over the last two years our state spent approx. 2.5 million on it and saw a return of 60 million. The riders love it and we have heard some great comments from the riders over the last 2 years. Several riders commented in surprise at the amount of bystanders who would show up even in the rural areas. I believe one rider went so far as to say that there were more fans in the rural areas of Missouri who showed up than the rural areas of the Tour de France. That is saying a lot. Call Gov.Jay Nixon's office & leave a message please 573-751-3222. You can also leave an e-mail at http://governor.mo.gov/contact . It would be awesome for Nixon's office to hear from cyclist, fans & potential tourist from all over. We are the Show Me State for a reason. Please respond today because a final decision has yet to be made. Thank You-Gail