Podcast: Brother Cycling’s Tour of Britain Chat

The Tour of Britain is BACK and to celebrate Brother Cycling have produced another excellent podcast with Route Director Andy Hawes , pro rider Harry Tanfield, Brother UK’s MD Phil Jones MBE and VeloUK’s Larry Hickmott all chatting about this great race

Podcast: Brother Cycling’s Tour of Britain Chat

The 2021 Tour of Britain begins in Cornwall on Sunday September 5 and finishes in Aberdeen a week later, visiting Devon, Carmarthenshire, Cheshire, Cumbria, Northumberland, and the Scottish Borders and here to talk about it are Route Director Andy Hawes , pro rider Harry Tanfield, Brother UK’s MD Phil Jones MBE and VeloUK’s Larry Hickmott.

A rider who raced in Britain for a few seasons, Jack Bauer, one of many winners in this National Tour that brings the best in the world to Britain

Phil Jones MBE, the Managing Director of Brother UK, describes the huge logistical and organisational effort required to equip the Neutral Service p/b Brother UK in-race support vehicles for the Tour of Britain. Phil offers insights into the race’s commercial impact, too, and describes the draining effect of inter-stage transfers.

Route Director Andy Hawes reveals the herculean challenge of designing the Tour of Britain’s parcours, including driving every inch of its 1310km route three times at least. He lifts the lid on the demands of his in-race role as Moto Regulator too, where he rides pillion on the penultimate moto.

Harry Tanfield of Team Qhubeka-NextHash offers a rider’s perspective on the Tour of Britain, including the different approaches of third-tier UCI Continental teams and top-tier UCI ProTeams. He contrasts this year’s route with the Benelux Tour and explains why superstars like Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) have chosen to race in Britain.

VeloUK’s Larry Hickmott is one of four expert witnesses featured in the new episode of the Brother UK Cycling Podcast. Larry has covered every edition of the race since it relaunched in 2004. He shares insights into this year’s gruelling parcours, gained from conversations with riders and managers, and offers his hopes that the visiting UCI ProTeams will send their British riders, including Ethan Hayter (INEOS-Grenadiers) and Connor Swift (Arkea-Samsic).