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The Tour of Missouri is a go. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon on Tuesday rejected a state Department of Economic Development recommendation to pull $1.5 million in funding for the race. Last week the race's promoter said that if the money were pulled, the race would have to be canceled. "Even as my administration continues to tighten its belt, I believe that the 2009 Tour of Missouri should go forward," Nixon said in a statement. "The race will go on this year." Nixon called for a more transparent accounting of how the money is spent, however.

Sure, Bastille Day is the day France celebrates its Revolution, but it also marks the mid-point of this year's Tour. Casey Gibson was out on the road during Stage 10 and sees that the French know how to celebrate both.

The Saxo Bank team suffered a setback Tuesday when Norwegian road champion Kurt-Asle Arvesen was forced out of the race after suffering a broken collarbone in a heavy crash during the 10th stage. The 34-year-old Norwegian champion, who won the 11th stage on last year's Tour, fell after 87km trying to avoid a spectator who had fallen into the road. He finished the stage, but was obviously in great pain as he pedaled near the back of the peloton. Saxo Bank spokesman Bryan Nygaard confirmed the bad news.

The chance of a stage win is likely to tempt more than one of the peloton's more agile sprinters in the 11th stage of the Tour de France on Wednesday. However, the likes of Oscar Freire (Rabobank) and Thor Hushovd Cervélo TestTeam) would do well to study the profile of the undulating 192km ride from Vatan to Saint Fargeau, which gets tricky inside the last 50km before ending on a slight incline. With only two Category 4 climbs the stage should, in theory, finish in a bunch sprint — although only those who can finish fast on a slight incline, including Hushovd and Freire, need apply.

Mark Cavendish (Columbia-HTC) won a leisurely, radio-free 10th stage of Tour de France on Tuesday. It was Bastille Day, and a breakaway full of Frenchmen declared independence early on, but the home crowd would have no reason to celebrate the finale — with a little help from George Hincapie and Mark Renshaw, Cavendish won yet another drag race to the line ahead of green jersey Thor Hushovd (Cervélo TestTeam) and Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream).

Luxemburger Frank Schleck admitted he struggled to cope with media focusing on his younger brother Andy during the first days of the Tour de France, a report said Tuesday. The Schlecks both race for the Saxo Bank team (formerly CSC) which last year helped Spaniard Carlos Sastre win the race. Despite Frank's obvious talent, though, younger brother Andy is considered the team's best hope of triumphing this year having won the Tour's white jersey in 2008 for the top placed rider under 25.

A teams' protest over the banning of race radios for the 10th stage of the Tour de France failed to prompt any kind of protest before the start on Tuesday. Organizers, following agreement with the International Cycling Union (UCI), have banned the all-important race radios which allow team managers to talk to their riders throughout the race for two stages this year. Fourteen of the race's 20 teams launched a protest, however Tour organizers and the UCI have stood firm and so far refused offers of a compromise. The banning of race radios on stage 13, however, is still up in the air.

The concept of looking for allies with common goals in the tactical minefield of cycling's big stage races is not new, and can be a fruitful initiative for some. But Australian Cadel Evans has so far seen little evidence that he will be helped to beat the mighty Astana team of Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong by any of his fellow challengers for the Tour de France yellow jersey. Evans resumes racing on the 10th stage Tuesday a day after admitting he has his "work cut out" if he is to try and get back in contention for, never mind win, this year's race.

After a spring layoff from the writing gig, Kona pro mountain bike and cyclocross racer Barry Wicks is back by popular demand. I have become addicted to club soda. I think I have consumed possibly the entire supply Canada Dry has produced since their inception in 1904. I am at BC Bike race, and I am thirsty. The singletrack is continuous, relentless and ridiculous fun. I stopped dreaming about trails three nights ago and now just hallucinate them during waking moments.

On July 5, 2009, Evelyn Stevens won the four-day, Fitchburg Longsjo Classic in Massachusetts, winning the NRC event ahead of seasoned vets like Jeannie Longo, who placed third, and Tina Pic, who won two stages. An amateur riding as a guest with the Lip Smacker pro team, Stevens, 26, moved into first on the second day’s hilly circuit race, gained more time with a second place in the tough stage 3 road race, and cinched the win after fending off crushing attacks in the final stage criterium.

Defending Tour champion Carlos Sastre said Monday he would be choosing his moments carefully when the Tour de France moves up a gear next week in the Alps. "Astana are the strongest team in the race at the moment, and when it comes to the Alps next week it is up to us (rivals) to react to whatever they decide to do," Sastre said Monday on the race's first rest day. The deficits of Astana's direct rivals range from the 1:49 of Luxembourg's Andy Schleck, of Saxo Bank, to the 3:07 held by two-time runner-up Cadel Evans.

As the son of one of cycling's greats, Nicolas Roche knows he has plenty to live up to. And after a tough first nine stages of racing on his Tour de France debut, the France-born Irish national road race champion is not expecting the race to get any easier. Roche, the son of former Tour de France and Giro d'Italia champion Stephen, has spent the past few days in the unexpected position of battling to keep teammate Rinaldo Nocentini in the race's yellow jersey.

Lance Armstrong's impressive form on this year's Tour de France may have taken some people by surprise, but Saxo Bank leader Andy Schleck insisted Monday the American can win an eighth title. The 24-year-old Luxemburger is 1:49 behind Italian yellow jersey holder Rinaldo Nocentini. But Schleck says Armstrong, the seven-time champion who is participating for the first time since retiring in 2005, can win the Tour - and ominously for his rivals - is getting stronger.

Michael Rogers dropped his chain off the small chainring in the stage one time trial, not once, but twice, forcing him to dismount and put it back on. He was on a Scott Plasma3, as were all his teammates, and he was using a Shimano Dura Ace Di2 grouppo, the same as on all the team TT bikes. What went wrong? According to team mechanic Perry Moerman, a relatively last-minute equipment change, compounded by the nature of Di2 front shifting, conspired to cause the problem. Normally, Di2 is set up and programmed to shift perfectly between a 53- and a 39-tooth chainring.

While Alberto Contador was being grilled by a 250-strong media throng at the Novotel Limoges on Monday afternoon, a small group of six reporters sat around a table with Brad Wiggins at the Campanile hotel barely 500 meters away. And that’s how the lean, long Brit likes it: no pressure, having fun. You wouldn’t know he’s in fifth overall, the closest challenger to Contador’s (and Lance Armstrong’s) Astana team, and sitting only seven seconds behind fourth-placed Levi Leipheimer.