STAGE ROUTES ANNOUNCED FOR MEN’S TOUR OF BRITAIN

In total, the world’s top riders in the Men’s Tour of Britain will race over 886 kilometres of racing (551 miles) across six stages between Tuesday 2 and Sunday 7 September, stretching from the East Suffolk coastline to the Welsh capital Cardiff, via Mid Suffolk, Milton Keynes and Central Bedfordshire, Warwickshire, Torfaen and Monmouthshire, and Newport.

STAGE ROUTES ANNOUNCED FOR MEN’S TOUR OF BRITAIN
This year’s Lloyds Tour of Britain Men will come to a thrilling climax in south Wales this September, across 250 kilometres of tough racing, featuring over 4,000 metres of ascent, across the final pair of stages, as the routes for the six stages of the race are today launched.

Read about the teams racing the Men’s Tour of Britain here:

In total the world’s top riders will face over 886 kilometres of racing (551 miles) across six stages between Tuesday 2 and Sunday 7 September, stretching from the East Suffolk coastline to the Welsh capital Cardiff, via Mid Suffolk, Milton Keynes and Central Bedfordshire, Warwickshire, Torfaen and Monmouthshire, and Newport.

Along the way the race will visit new venues and tackle legendary climbs from past editions of the Men’s Tour of Britain Men, including The Tumble, Burton Dassett Hills, and Caerphilly Mountain, the latter coming in the final ten kilometres of the 2025 route. Commenting on the announcement of the detailed routes, Jonathan Day, Managing Director for British Cycling Events, said; “This is the news that fans have been looking forward to, and with a month to go until the Lloyds Tour of Britain Men gets underway, we are delighted to be sharing the exciting detail of all six routes.

“Following the announcement of the fantastic line-up of teams for the race, fans can now start planning exactly where they will be watching their heroes and cheering them on in September. We have worked hard with our stakeholders across all six stages to create this great route that will build to a real climax as we reach Wales, with the racing for the green jersey sure to go all the way down to the finish line on North Road in Cardiff.”

STAGE 1


Tuesday 2 September will see riders getting underway from Woodbridge in East Suffolk and facing a 161.4-kilometre (100.4-mile) stage to Southwold, the first time that the opening stage of Britain’s biggest professional men’s cycle race has been held in Suffolk since 2012. From the start in Woodbridge at 11am, riders will initially head west, before looping back around through Grundisburgh, Wickham Market, and Rendlesham, before passing the famous Snape Maltings to reach the Suffolk coast at Aldeburgh.

Running alongside the sea to Thorpeness, the route then turns inland, weaving through Saxmundham and Framlingham, to the day’s intermediate sprint on Walpole Road in Halesworth. The stage will reach its northernmost point at Bungay, routing back towards Southwold via Beccles, Wrentham and Reydon, for the finish on North Parade in Southwold, which is expected at around 3.05pm.

STAGE 2


For the first time ever, Suffolk will host two stages of the Men’s Tour of Britain Men in the same edition, with Mid Suffolk District Council and neighbouring Babergh District Council hosting a stage starting and finishing in Stowmarket on Wednesday 3 September. The 169.3-kilometre (105.3-mile) leg will depart from Ipswich Street in the town centre at 11:00, leaving towards Stowupland and Forward Green. The route takes in Debenham and Bedfield, before the intermediate sprint in Stradbroke after 40 kilometres of racing.

Crossing Mid Suffolk to Eye and Thurston, the race turns south to Felsham and into Babergh for a southern loop taking in Lavenham, Sudbury, and the Dedham Vale National Landscape, before turning back for the run towards Stowmarket and the finish on Ipswich Street around 15:15. Stage two also includes the first designated king of the mountains climb of the race, Semer Hill, just after Hadleigh, in the closing kilometres of the race.

STAGE 3


Thursday 4 September will see a 122.8-kilometre (76.4-mile) leg from Milton Keynes to Ampthill, that will take in Woburn, Toddington, Barton-le-Clay, and Shefford, and include a spectator friendly double-loop around Northill and Old Warden. Stage three will get underway from Milton Keynes’ Midsummer Boulevard at 11:30, passing alongside and then crossing the grade 2 listed Campbell Park in the neutralised section, before leaving the city through Caldecotte, and passing the Oracle Red Bull Racing Formula One team’s technology campus and factory, shortly before racing begins.

After racing through historical Woburn Sands, the race enters Central Bedfordshire, crossing Woburn Abbey Deer Park and on to Toddington, before turning east after Chalton, to Streatley and Barton-le-Clay, passing the ancient woodland and chalk escarpment at Sharpenhoe. The stage will complete a lap and a half of a 30-kilometre loop east of Biggleswade, giving spectators at the intermediate sprint outside Northill, and the day’s categorised king of the mountains climb at Hillfoot near Old Warden, the chance to see the race twice.

From the second ascent of the 700-metre, 5.2% average climb, just 16 kilometres of racing lie before the finish line, which will see riders sprinting through Ampthill town centre, and along Woburn Street, to the finish on Woburn Road, at around 14:40.

STAGE 4


Warwickshire will host the longest stage of the 2025 Men’s Tour of Britain as the world’s top professional cyclists from 19 teams will take on a 186.9-kilometre (116.2 miles) route, starting from Sheepy Road in Atherstone at 10:30 on Friday 5 September, and finishing atop Burton Dassett Hills Country Park, just after 15:00. Along the way the route will take in all five districts and boroughs of Warwickshire (North Warwickshire Borough; Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough; Rugby Borough; Warwick District; and Stratford-upon-Avon District), and feature six categorised king of the mountains climbs – the most on any stage of the 2025 route.

Having hosted three previous stage starts of the Lloyds Tour of Britain Women, plus a time trial, September will mark the first time that the men’s race has started in the North Warwickshire town. From Atherstone the route will take in Ansley, Shustoke, and Fillongley, before heading through Bedworth and Bulkington, then heading south via Brinklow to skirt Rugby and go through Dunchurch.

The day’s intermediate sprint will come after 85 kilometres of racing on Rugby Road in Cubbington, before the climbing starts in earnest in the second part of the stage, with the first categorised climb at Friz Hill, between Wellesbourne and Compton Verney. From Kineton the route heads south to Shipston-on-Stour, with the next climb of Fant Hill at Upper Brailes, soon after, followed almost immediately by Sun Rising Hill, with an average of 10% over its 900 metres as it takes the race up onto the Edgehill escarpment.

The stage then uses the same finishing circuit around Burton Dassett Hills Country Park that featured in the 2019 race, when Mathieu van der Poel took a memorable stage win. Three ascents of the main, categorised, 1.4-kilometre climb, which averages 5.7% await contribute towards more than 2,100 metres of ascent in the stage, the second highest of this year’s race.

STAGE 5


Stage five will start from Pontypool Park in Torfaen at 11:30 on 6 September, with fans in the town also able to see the race later in the day, as the route snakes back through Pontypool, at around 14:00, after its first ascent of The Tumble. First the route will head to Usk and Chepstow, taking in the first of five categorised king of the mountains ascents at Llangwm, averaging 4.7% over its 3.6 kilometres. Immediately after Chepstow the race tackles Itton Hill, the second climb of the day, almost five kilometres in length, and heads on to Monmouth, and then the Old Ross Road climb on the way to Abergavenny.

From the town, the race will head to its first ascent of The Tumble, averaging over 8% across its 4.9-kilometre distance, before a fast descent into Blaenavon and along the Afon Lwyd valley to Pontypool. The stage retraces its route to Usk, turning north via the Chain Bridge across the River Usk, to head back to The Tumble and the final, gruelling race up to the finish line at the summit, after more than 2,330 metres of ascent during the 133.5-kilometre (83-mile) route, for an expected finish just before 15:00.

STAGE 6


The final stage begins at 11:45 from outside the Geraint Thomas National Velodrome of Wales in Newport, and while the 112.2-kilometre (69.8-mile) route only features two categorised climbs (Mynydd Bedwellte and Caerphilly Mountain), the constant undulations add up to almost 1,750 metres of ascent. Leaving Newport towards Risca and Crosskeys, the stage passes through the appropriately named Wattsville, and north through Caerphilly County Borough and then Blaenau Gwent to weave its way to Ebbw Vale, before returning via Tredegar and the Sirhowy Valley.

A three-kilometre climb at almost the halfway point takes the race onto the Mynydd Bedwellte and over into the Rhymney Valley, before ascending Gelligaer Common and an undulating section via Bargoed, Nelson and Ystrad Mynach, to Caerphilly. Located with under ten kilometres of racing to go, the 1.4-kilometre, 9.7% average gradient climb of Caerphilly Mountain will again prove decisive for the stage winner in Cardiff, with a fast and relatively straightforward run in to Cardiff, including passing the Maindy cycle track, before the finish on North Road, alongside Bute Park, at around 14:45.

STAGES
Stage 1 | Tuesday 2 September | Woodbridge to Southwold
Stage 2 | Wednesday 3 September | Stowmarket to Stowmarket
Stage 3 | Thursday 4 September | Milton Keynes to Ampthill
Stage 4 | Friday 5 September | Atherstone to Burton Dassett Hills Country Park
Stage 5 | Saturday 6 September | Pontypool to The Tumble |
Stage 6 | Sunday 7 September | Newport to Cardiff

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