The Tour of Britain's loss will be the Tour of Missouri's gain.
The UK's Mark Cavendish, left, will be racing at the Tour of Missouri — Sept. 8-14 — instead of at the Tour of Britain as previously expected, Team Columbia's director sportif Allan Pieper has confirmed.
He'll certainly add to the excitement raised by the expected duel for the yellow jersey between Americans George Hincapie and Christian Vande Velde.
Cavendish
The 23-year-old Cavendish is probably the hottest sprinter in the sport right now, boasting 14 wins this season, including four at this year's Tour de France. He's won back-to-back stages at the Tour of Ireland that's going on this week.
While the US riders were more or less certain when the Tour of Missouri announced the 15 teams for 2008, the presence of Cavendish is a surprise. Pieper told Cycling Weekly:
“Cav's definitely not riding because he's got to ride Missouri. It's an important race for our sponsor. The race is on at the same time, so he's got to ride in the US.”
The relatively flat stages — although the Ozarks can be grueling — mean Cavendish will probably compete through the finish and be primed for a couple of stage wins. It will be Cavendish's last race of the year.
While the Team Columbia cyclist will challenge other sprinters in the field, such as Garmin-Chipotle's Tyler Farrar, two Americans will be among those contesting the yellow jersey.
Hincapie is returning to defend his 2007 Tour of Missouri championship. Hincapie won last year with the last race of the Discovery Channel team; now he's racing with Team Columbia which is a descendant of T-Mobile.
One of his challengers will be Vande Velde, the Illinois native whose amazing journey with Garmin-Chipotle this year included 5th overall at the Tour de France and the leader's jersey for one day at the Giro d'Italia.
Among the cyclists assisting Vande Velde will be time trial specialist David Zabriskie, as well as Danny Pate.
Another challenger for the yellow jersey will be Czech cyclist Roman Kreuzinger, winner of the Tour of Switzerland this year for Liquigas.
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