News – The Tour of Cambridgeshire Gran Fondo ‘Race’

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June 6/7 will see the biggest field for a ‘race’ in Britain as The Tour of Cambridgeshire Gran Fondo takes to the road

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News – The Tour of Cambridgeshire Gran Fondo ‘Race’

NOTE: http://www.tourofcambridgeshire.com/

June 6/7 will see the biggest field for a ‘race’ in Britain as The Tour of Cambridgeshire Gran Fondo takes to the road in a two stage event, road race and time trial. I say road race as Gran Fondo’s can be either a race or a sportive. The TT event though is a qualifying round of the UCI World Cycling Tour (UWCT), a series of UCI sanctioned races held all over the world.

ToC_gran_fondo

The top 25% in each age group will qualify to ‘race’ the Amateur Road World Championships.

It is say the organisers, the UK’s only authentic continental style closed road gran fondo race/sportive & UWCT closed road time trial event. The race/sportive will be the first of its kind in the UK with a race at the front where riders are gridded according to licence category (riders will have to have a racing licence from one of the appropriate organisations such as BC) and a sportive for the rest of the field.

The event follows a well established format already very successful in mainland Europe. There are 10,000 places available on a first come, first served basis with seeding for the front racing groups. The 132km loop through the Cambridgeshire countryside promises a mix of flatland with small sharp climbs similar to the terrain in Belgium. Well stocked feed stations and mechanical and medical assistance along the course will look after riders during the event.

Saturday 6 June will also see the first ever UCI World Cycling Tour event take place in the UK with the 28km closed road Tour of Cambridgeshire Chrono time trial. Riders will start the ‘sporting’ course from a professional race style ramp with electronic chip timing to ensure accuracy. Rider limit is 700 and is open to all levels with the first 25% in each Masters age category in both male and female invited by the UCI to compete in the 2015 UCI World Amateur Road Championships time trial in Denmark in September.

Male and female winners of both the Gran Fondo and Chrono will each receive £1,500 and there will also be equal prizes for male and female Masters age group classifications. Combined prizes for the overall on both events will also be awarded.

Entry for the Gran Fondo is £56 and the Chrono £34 with a limited joint entry of £80 also available.

Tom Caldwell from organisers Vericool Sports Management explains how the event came about: “Until now British riders have had to travel abroad to compete in proper closed road gran fondos, so when the UCI approached us about organising the UCWT level time trial and we secured the closed roads, we realised this is the right time to bring a truly authentic race/sportive gran fondo to the UK. It’s been a lot of hard work and investment to get to this stage but worth it to have the first events of their kind in the UK”.

Both events will start and finish at the spacious Peterborough Arena with ample free parking on site for thousands of cars meaning no long transfers to the start or from the finish. A trade village and catering facilities will be available on site all weekend.

The 700 TT places sold out in six days and unbeknown to the organisers, they we are only 30 places off the world record. Suffice to say the organisers are talking to the council to allow more riders!. The TT is a UWCT qualifying event so you can’t ride it if you have UCI points from the last 12 months or ride for a UCI team.

For more details and to enter please visit www.tourofcambridgeshire.com

About the UWCT
The UCI World Cycling Tour (UWCT) is a series of UCI sanctioned races held all over the world. All qualifier events will qualify the top 25% in each age group to the Amateur Road World Championships.

After its launch in 2011, the UWCT has grown to include events in 11 countries worldwide with the maximum allocation of 15 events to take place in 2015. While promoting high level competition for Masters and Amateur, one of the aims of this series is the globalization of “Cycling for All”. With that in mind, the geographical spread of the events is very important, alongside with strict organisational and sporting criteria, and a certain tourism interest.

For more information on the UWCT series and the UCI please visit www.uciworldcyclingtour.com

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