Liked the race and the racing, but I'm not sure if spending 8% of the state's tourism budget on one event was/would be the wisest expenditure, either. We have events going on every weekend, and only a small minority of tourists are actually interested in bike racing. Realistically, a large part of the $1M should have come from private sponsors. If the organizers had asked, instead for $100,000 or $200,000 from the state, the odds of receiving it would've been much higher.

I am glad the tourist dollar allocations have been given to other events in MO. Now Methfest out in Mark Twain Forest can finally get the funding it has been looking for! Why would Jay Nixon want Alberto Contador, Mark Cavendish, or even Lance to come to MO. I hope his career as Gov is one term only. Thankfully, I Colorado is close enough where i can go and watch the race and spend my MO earned money in another state.

I cannot even describe in words how much i hate Nixon for this. Now every stupid decision he makes snowballs.. TOM, Historic Tax Credit cuts, and College education program cuts to name a few.

I even went to one of his fundraisers downtown and he sounded like a complete yes man. He should be a used car salesman and nothing else.

I think the cancellation of this years tour is unfortunate. Maybe not everyone in Missouri is a cycling fan but this event and others like it are intended to draw tourist to Missouri, not necessarily for the sole entertainment of Missourians, and there are cycling fans world wide. This event was on the fast track to take off as a major cycling event on the world stage. I have heard from sources closer to the event that cycling teams found this race to be a real challenge because it was difficult for the cyclist to get into a rhythm traveling along through Missouri's rolling hills. I can't image that our tourism division will be able to come up with an event that has the potential to disperse as much attention and tourism dollars as widely as this event could. What an unfortunate political waste.