It seems like the last big ride should come on a majestic Alpine pass or on the cobblestones of the Champs-Elysees.
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Instead, the team that won the Tour de France eight times in nine years and made Lance Armstrong a folk hero is sending its top stars to a low-key race in Missouri.
The Discovery Channel team -- formerly known as U.S. Postal Service, and best known for helping Armstrong win cycling's biggest prize a record seven straight times -- is disbanding because of a lack of sponsorship.
In its wake, Discovery leaves a legacy of unprecedented performance, some lingering controversy -- and a major void in the U.S. professional cycling scene.
The sense of finality hasn't quite hit veteran rider George Hincapie, who joined the team two years before Armstrong's first Tour de France victory in 1999.
"I thought about it at the Tour (this year) a little bit," Hincapie said. "I'm sure that next year, when everybody's riding for a different team, it'll be strange."
Discovery has a few more races left on its calendar. But the inaugural Tour of Missouri, which begins Tuesday in Kansas City, is the final time its top riders will compete together.
"It hit me a long time ago," said fellow American rider Levi Leipheimer. "I would describe it as sad, but I guess nothing lasts forever."
Team director Johan Bruyneel, who oversaw strategy for all eight tour victories, said his time with the team was rewarding but exhausting.
"It's the end of a beautiful period in my life," Bruyneel said. "All good things come to an end. I'm kind of preparing for it a little bit, but until you're in the heat of the action, you don't really realize this is it."
Bruyneel said the team chose to bring its star riders to the Missouri race -- instead of the prestigious Spanish Vuelta, where Discovery is fielding some of its lesser-known riders -- as a thank-you to American fans.
Hincapie and Leipheimer will be joined by Spanish rider Alberto Contador, the 24-year-old who won the Tour de France in July. And while the riders are exhausted, Discovery is coming to win.
"It's not going to be a holiday race," Bruyneel said. "Our guys are performing."
