More than 30 communities applied to be host cities and the 11 chosen were revealed Tuesday.

The route begins in St. Louis, then heads to St. Genevieve, Cape Girardeau, Farmington, Rolla, St. James, Jefferson City, Sedalia, Chillicothe, St. Joseph and ends in Kansas City.

"The reaction after last year, the enthusiasm has just been amazing," said project director Chris Aronhalt. "So we expect the third annual Tour of Missouri to be fantastic."

The race brought more than 400,000 spectators to the course last year and brought in $4 million more than in the previous year, an increase from $26 to $30 million. Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder assured everyone the economy would not get in the way of this year's race.

"The average visitor who comes to watch the race or a portion of it is more affluent, stayed longer, and spent more money each day than the average visitor to our state," Kinder said. "Of course those are the folks we want coming back in the expectation of a wonderful annual event that gets better each year. And staying longer and spending more money in our state and especially during times of challenging economic times."

The seven day race will take place from Sept. 7 through Sept. 13. One hundred and twenty cyclists will compete from more than 23 countries.