Hincapie says he'll race Tour of Missouri in September

Although it's only May, George Hincapie says he'll defend his title in the upcoming Tour of Missouri scheduled Sept. 8-14.

Hincapie won the inaugural Missouri stage bike race last year as a member of the Discovery Channel pro cycling team. He's now a member of Team High Road, officially registered in San Luis Obispo, California.

Hincapie recently finished the Tour of Georgia, where High Road teammate Kanstantin Sivtsov won the race with a decisive attack on Brasstown Bald.

Yellow

The 34-year-old Greenville, South Carolina, cyclist is one of four US cyclists to ever wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France (David Zabriskie, Greg LeMond and Lance Armstrong are the otheres). He won the final stage of the Tour of California in February. Although High Road is racing in the Giro d'Italia, which begins Saturday, Hincapie is going to sit that one out.

This year's Tour of Missouri will cover 623 miles of road in the Show Me state. Here are the stages:

The host cities are:

Stage 1 — Monday, Sept. 8: St. Joseph to Kansas City
Stage 2 — Tuesday, Sept. 9: Clinton to Springfield.
Stage 3 — Wednesday, Sept. 10: Branson time trial
Stage 4 — Thursday, Sept. 11: Lebanon to Rolla
Stage 5 — Friday, Sept. 12: St. James to Jefferson City
Stage 6 — Saturday, Sept. 13: Hermann to St. Charles
Stage 7 — Sunday, Sept. 14: St. Louis circuit

More information at Tour of Missouri.