Photo by Eric Keith / St. Joseph News-Press / Purchase this photo

There was plenty of food and entertainment during the kickoff of Stage 6 in Chillicothe Saturday.

CHILLICOTHE, Mo. — A week of cooperative weather held steady on Saturday for the start of the sixth stage in the third annual Tour of Missouri.

Thousands crowded the town square in Chillicothe to get a glimpse of the bicyclists preparing the 100-mile-plus ride into St. Joseph.

Piggybacking on the Chautauqua in the Park event in its 25th year, at least one organizer thought the town could hit numbers of 50,000 with the professional race in town. About 10,000 usually show for the Chautauqua.

Heather Deshayes, a Chillicothe event organizer, admitted that her 50,000 estimate might be a bit steep, but looked for something wooden to knock on when asked how the day was panning out.

“We could not be more excited,” she said. “We have had amazing community support in addition to international exposure we wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.”

More than 100 bicycles had been given out in events promoting and leading up to Saturday. More than 250 volunteers took part in planning the day since March, Ms. Deshayes said.

Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, whose office, including point man Jerry Dowell, helped put the Tour together, said the only disappointments in the week were losing two of the top riders — Mark Cavendish and Christian Vande Velde — to sickness and injury. Despite that, the event is drawing people from other states and countries. License plates of people following the race to small towns along the route were from Texas, Tennessee, California and Ontario, Canada. Preliminary surveys show that spectators from 35 states and 26 countries had come to the event as of Friday.

“This helps fulfill our vision that with this race we have the best opportunity to re-brand Missouri to a (bigger) national and international audience than we have ever had,” Mr. Kinder said.

The event also helps promote cycling to Missourians who might not have been exposed to it before.

“There probably weren’t a huge number (of cycling fans) in Chillicothe and Livingston County before,” he said. “But there are now.”

Former St. Joseph resident Rich Douglas, a retired economics professor from Bowling Green, Ohio, got to meet one of his cycling heroes in Chillicothe Saturday. Mr. Douglas penned a poem inspired by George Hincapie, a 14-time Tour de France rider, current USA Pro Cycling Road Race champion, and former champion of the Tour of Missouri. Mr. Douglas was invited to present the framed poem to Mr. Hincapie on the podium before the start of the race.

“I’ve followed the Tour and George for years,” Mr. Douglas said after the presentation.

Fans such as Mr. Douglas weren’t unique Saturday, as about two dozen of the 100-plus riders in the Tour of Missouri rode in this summer’s Tour de France, the biggest event in cycling. Those same riders who sped down the Champs Elysees in Paris cruised through the town square in Gallatin, Mo., Saturday on their way to Pattonsburg and on to King City. More than 100 spectators lined the streets in Gallatin and cheered as the cyclists, followed by a parade of support vehicles and race officials, whooshed by.

“That was really something,” said a Gallatin spectator to his two children.

Jimmy Myers can be reached

at jimmym@npgco.com.