News: Tour of Britain upgraded to 2.HC status by UCI

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The eleventh edition of the Tour of Britain cycle race will be a UCI 2.HC category, ranking it alongside many of the great events around the world

RST Cycle Clothing & Trigon Bikes

SweetSpot are delighted to announce that The Tour of Britain will sit alongside some of professional cycling’s most prestigious events having been upgraded to HC status by the UCI for 2014 and beyond.

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Sir Bradley Wiggins, winner in 2013 of the Tour of Britain. A Tour de France winner no less.

Britain’s national Tour, which has been organised and promoted by SweetSpot since 2004, has been awarded the 2.HC status by the world governing body, putting it on a par with major events such as the Tour of California, Tour of Qatar and Criterium International.

The 2014 Tour of Britain will take place from Sunday 7th to Sunday 14th September. Commenting on the news, SweetSpot Race Director, Mick Bennett, said: “We are delighted by today’s announcement, which comes as a culmination of ten year’s hard work by the SweetSpot team. The award of 2.HC status is another step forward for The Tour of Britain, and we look forward to this September’s edition of the race being the best yet.”

“The upgrade is also a reward for the many hundreds of thousands of spectators who have lined the route and cheered on the race over the past decade.” Reacting to the announcement, Cyclesport and Membership director at BC, Jonny Clay said: “We’re delighted that The Tour of Britain has attained a place alongside some of the most historic races on the global cycling calendar.”

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A prolific winner in the Tour of Britain is Mark Cavendish, another sporting great from Britain in a great British sporting event

“Credit must be given to SweetSpot for their stewardship of the race to date and we look forward to working with them over the next five years to continue the growth of the event as both a monument of the sport and as a British sporting success.

The reputation of The Tour of Britain has been growing in recent years with larger crowds watching increasingly high-profile fields. Last year’s event was won by Sir Bradley Wiggins, as he overcame a field that also included Tour de France stage winners such as Mark Cavendish, Nairo Quintana and Dan Martin.”

Further details of the 2014 Tour of Britain will be announced at the race’s National Launch in the Spring.

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The crowds at Guildford just one example of how the British sporting public have take the race to their hearts

The Organisers
The SweetSpot Group are a sports events and marketing company specialising in the creation and execution of high-quality, annual sporting events. SweetSpot were behind the successful revival of The Tour of Britain, the UK’s largest professional cycle race, in 2004 after a five-year absence, and which now forms a cornerstone of the British sporting calendar. It is the country’s largest free-to-watch sporting event.

SweetSpot Group were also part of the team behind the successful 2007 London Grand Départ of the Tour de France, and are responsible for the creation of the unique, team based ‘Tour Series’ programme of televised, city centre cycle races and XCALIBRE, a new off-road mountain biking tour for August 2014.

Since SweetSpot came onto the scene in the British cycle race calendar, the look and level of the racing in Britain has grown as sponsors realise the potential of getting their brands on TV and now when you talk to them, their goals are invariably SweetSpot events such as the Tour Series and the Tour of Britain.

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Tour Series, another Sweetspot Success story

Our congratulations to Sweetspot …. And ‘bout time too ;-)

 

 

 

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