This year’s Tour of Britain has been revealed in the races official paper, the Telegraph prior to the launch to riders, guests and press at the GLive venue in Guildford.
Jon Locke leading the way on the climbs in the 2011 Tour of Britain. The 2012 version is said be tough and suited to a climber like Locke who races for Endura Racing in 2012.
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Related Link: the 2011 Tour of Britain
The Route for the 2012 has been revealed and it’s said to be the toughest route yet and ideal preparation for the Road Worlds which will take place after the race in the hilly Limburg area of Holland.
Speaking in the official paper for the race, the Telegraph, race director Mick Bennett says “It’s our longest ever modern-day Tour at 850 miles and our toughest yet. The transformation of this race since 2004 has been extraordinary and mirrors, I think, the explosion of interest in cycling in this countryâ€.
The route for the race is set to be officially launched in Guildford today (Thursday) and the reason for that is because that is where the race will finish. With London full of the Olympics and Paralympics, the race will not finish in the capital as it has done in previous years.
Tour Launch — First Photos
The event will begin in Ipswich and it’s said that the first four stages, despite covering some hilly terrain including the Pennines in Yorkshire, will be for the sprinters.
It’s the latter half of the race thought that may well suit riders like Jonathan Tiernan-Locke of Endura Racing. After winning two big events at the start of the season (Tour of Med and Haut Var), Locke may well be the rider who can do what no other British rider has done in the Tour of Britain so far, that’s win it overall.
The route is said to include a lot of climbing on the stage that starts and finishes in Stoke which will also host the finale of the Halfords Tour Series in 2012. Another stage with plenty of climbing will be the sixth one in Wales. It was in Wales that Jonathan Tiernan-Locke showed how well he could climb on the stage into Caerphilly, leading the race over the mountain and giving everyone a glimpse of what was to come in 2012.
The race will then head south into Locke’s territory (South West), between Barnstaple and Dartmouth before a big stage in Surrey, far different to most previous races where the event has finished with a criterium. In 2012, the race will instead finish with a tough road stage ending on the cobbles of Guildford, home to a circuit race each year.
Teams that have been confirmed for the race include WorldTour squads Sky, Garmin-Barracuda, GreenEdge, Vacansoleil-DCM and Liquigas-Cannondale
We’ll have more on the race post launch.
Tour of Britain 2012 route
Stage 1 – Ipswich – Norfolk Showgrounds Norwich, 199.6km
Stage 2 – Loughbrough – Knowsley Safari Park, 193.5km
Stage 3 – Jedburgh – Dumfries, 161.4km
Stage 4 – Â Carlisle – Blackpool, 156km
Stage 5- Â Stoke – Stoke, 146.9km
Stage 6 – Welshpool-Caerphilly, 189.8km
Stage 7 – Barnstaple – Dartmouth, 170.8km
Stage 8 – Reigate – Guildford, 147.7km
Former Winners
2004: Mauricio Ardila (Col – Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf)
2005: Nick Nuyens (Bel – Quick Step-Innergetic)
2006: Martin Pedersen (Den – CSC)
2007: Romain Feillu (Fra – Agritubel)
2008: Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra – Agritubel)
2009: Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor – Columbia-HTC)
2010: Michael Albasini (Swi – Columbia-HTC)
2011: Lars Boom (Hol – Rabobank)
Photos
Coming …
