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To save a professional bicycle race that could bring Lance Armstrong to the Show-Me State, bicycle advocates in Missouri are leaning hard on Democratic Governor Jay Nixon.

The Tour of Missouri — an annual, week-long, staged race that started in 2007 — has drawn more than 1.2 million spectators from 40 states and 20 countries to the Show-Me State. That kind of tourism means big money for Missouri — more than $75 million in economic impact over the past three years. It also means big exposure for bicycling.

But, despite the prospect of Lance Armstrong joining the Tour this fall, the 2010 event is on the brink of death.

Though the Missouri General Assembly specifically allocated $1 million in state support for the Tour, the Division of Tourism and the Governor Nixon are balking at that commitment and insisting the state simply doesn’t have the cash. Brent Hugh, executive director of the Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation and vice-chair of the Tour, is rallying cyclists to make Nixon reconsider.

“The Tour is Missouri’s premier bicycling event, an event of global importance, and one that Missouri’s bicycling community — and many others — care deeply about,” Hugh said in a press release last week.

Already, more than 2,200 supporters have signed an online petition urging Nixon to retain funding for the Tour. That’s in addition to the nearly 9,000 Facebook fans on the “Support the Tour of Missouri” page.

Thus far, both the Division of Tourism and the Governor’s staff have refused to meet with Hugh and other Tour officials, despite repeated and written requests. Those political shenanigans have caught the attention of the media. The Riverfront Times in St. Louis has started investigating the dicey politics underlying the decision.

Stay up-to-date on developments and read all about the fight — now dubbed Tour of Missouri-gate — on MO Bike Fed’s Web-site.