Tour of Britain News: 2 Days in Wales

Tour of Britain News: 2 Days in Wales

NEWS: WALES TO HOST FINAL TWO STAGES OF THE LLOYDS TOUR OF BRITAIN MEN IN SEPTEMBER 2025

Wales will host the final two days of Britain’s biggest professional cycle race and the UK’s largest free-to-spectate live sporting event this September, as the Lloyds Tour of Britain Men builds to a spectacular finale across the south Wales climbs. Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 September will see the world’s top cyclists racing two arduous stages across south Wales, taking in Pontypool, Newport, and Cardiff, plus the famous climb of The Tumble, near Abergavenny, in what is anticipated to be the final race of INEOS Grenadiers rider Geraint Thomas’ illustrious career.

Pontypool, in Torfaen, will host the start of stage five on Saturday 6 September, as the British national tour visits for the first time, with a route through Monmouthshire, that will culminate in a double ascent of The Tumble, which averages 8.2% across its five kilometres. The final stage, on Sunday 7 September will start from the Geraint Thomas National Velodrome of Wales in the city of Newport, home to Beicio Cymru. After crossing the climbs and valleys of south Wales, the leg will pass the Maindy Velodrome, home to the Maindy Flyers Cycling Club that produced Geraint Thomas, among other Welsh stars, ahead of the finish in Cardiff city centre.

The news follows Wales hosting the Lloyds National Road Championships in Aberaeron and Aberystwyth in late June, as part of a three-year agreement between the Welsh Government and British Cycling, that saw Sam Watson (INEOS Grenadiers) and Mille Couzens (Fenix-Deceuninck) crowned road race champions. September will mark the second time that Cardiff has hosted the overall finish of the Lloyds Tour of Britain Men, having done so in 2017, and only the third time in the modern race’s 21-year history that the event has finished in Wales.

Newport has twice before hosted the Lloyds Tour of Britain Men, most recently in 2018, when André Greipel won the opening stage, while The Tumble has once before been a finish, 11 years ago (2014) when Edoardo Zardini took a memorable solo victory at the summit. As part of the weekend of racing in Wales, amateur cyclists will also be able to contest the official Lloyds Tour of Britain Ride the Route on Saturday 6 September. Starting and finishing from the Geraint Thomas National Velodrome of Wales in Newport, participants will have the opportunity to ride parts of the routes of the final stage a day ahead of the professionals, with more details of the event to be announced in the coming weeks.

Commenting on the announcement, Jonathan Day, Managing Director of British Cycling Events, said; “Wales has provided some of the most iconic moments in Lloyds Tour of Britain history over the years, and this September will be no different thanks to the two incredible stages that we have worked with our partners the Welsh Government and stakeholders to secure. The Lloyds Tour of Britain Men never fails to draw a crowd in south Wales, and with the four fantastic locations and two stages falling across a weekend we are confident that this will make for a really special atmosphere and a fantastic way to round out the race, and crown our 2025 champion.” The exact routes of both Welsh stages of the Lloyds Tour of Britain Men will be published later in July.

The Lloyds Tour of Britain Men begins in East Suffolk on Tuesday 2 September, with an opening leg between Woodbridge and Southwold, followed by a second stage in Suffolk at Stowmarket, and legs taking in Milton Keynes and Central Bedfordshire, and Warwickshire before the race arrives in Wales.

Further announcements about the participating teams for the Lloyds Tour of Britain Men and the detail of all six stage routes will be made over the coming weeks.