News – Tour of Britain 2014 route unveiled

2014_RaleighMilitis_Banner

Exciting new route for the Tour of Britain 2014 unveiled in London – Liverpool, Bristol, Bath & Brighton plus the Tumble!

RST Cycle Clothing & Trigon Bikes

News – Tour of Britain 2014 route unveiled

• Liverpool, Bristol, Bath, Brighton and London to all host stages of Tour
• Monmouthshire’s The Tumble to host mid-Tour summit finish on Stage Three
• Final day individual time trial on iconic central London circuit with Whitehall finish
• Nine UCI Pro Tour teams, headed by Team Sky, confirmed for 2014 Tour
• Expanded coverage, three-hours of live television coverage & highlights daily

The route for the 2014 Tour of Britain, the first to be run following the upgrade to 2.HC status, will include first visits for the modern Tour to both Bristol and Brighton, as well as a summit finish on The Tumble in South Wales.

2013_ToB_Stage7_Report_018

Liverpool and London city centres will bookmark the route, with the latter hosting the final stage of the race, which will include an individual time trial for the first time since 2011.

Seven new venues will welcome The Tour of Britain in September, in addition to returns to the likes of Liverpool, Worcester and Exeter to Britain’s national Tour.

“With our toughest summit finish yet, an individual time trial in London and several longer stages, this year’s Tour of Britain has a varied and testing route that will present opportunities to a variety of riders,” said Race Director Mick Bennett.

“The route will again showcase some fantastic scenery, and combine major British cities with charming and picturesque towns and villages, as well as testing climbs, all of which will make for a memorable Tour.”

For the first time since 2008 Liverpool will host The Tour of Britain, with the opening stage consisting of a ten-lap, 130km stage starting and finishing on The Strand, beneath the world-recognised skyline of the city’s Three Graces.

2008_ToB_Stage8_Liverpool_Maggy

Stage Two, on Monday 8th September, will start from Knowsley, scene of Sir Bradley Wiggins’ time trial victory in the 2013 Tour, before heading across North Wales to a stage finishing with a lap of the Great Orme and a seafront sprint in Llandudno.

Wales will host a challenging second stage a day later heading through Powys and mid-Wales to a summit finish on the six-kilometre climb of The Tumble, above Abergavenny in the stunning landscapes of Monmouthshire.

Wednesday 10th September will see the world’s top riders racing into Bristol from Worcester at the end of a 182-kilometre leg, before tackling the one-kilometre, 10% climb of Bridge Valley Road to the finish on Clifton Downs.

A day later sees the return of the always popular Devon stage that will include the climb of Haytor on Dartmoor, which hosted The Tour’s first ever summit finish last September.

Another venue making its debut in the modern Tour is Bath, from where Stage Six will start close to the famous Royal Crescent on Friday 12th September. A 200-kilometre plus route will cross Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire and including a challenging finale in the Chiltern Hills, ahead of a stage finish in Hemel Hempstead, Dacorum.

Brighton and Sussex will host their first stage of the modern Tour of Britain on the penultimate day of the 2014 race, marking 20-years since the Tour de France visited the city.

ToB-RouteOverview_2014

The longest in the race, Stage Seven will start in Camberley heading through West and East Sussex before the on Brighton’s Marine Drive, which will make perfect preparations for the World Road Race Championships thanks to its distance and arduous nature. In the closing kilometres riders will also face the challenge of the climb of Ditchling Beacon.

The battle for the race leader’s yellow jersey will go down to the final day in central London, with both an individual time trial and circuit race taking place on the iconic 8.8-kilometre circuit that takes in the capital’s best known landmarks, including the finish on Whitehall.

The national launch also saw the announcement of expanded television coverage for Britain’s national Tour, with three-hours of live coverage daily, plus an hour’s highlights show on each evening in a new multi-year deal with ITV.

“The increased television coverage at home and abroad and the upgrade of The Tour to HC status firmly places The Tour of Britain among the top ten stage races in the world,” said Hugh Roberts, Chief Executive of organisers SweetSpot Group.

“With our renewed relationship with British Cycling, we are now in a position to build upon solid foundations going forward, opening up exciting new commercial opportunities around the London stage, and The Tour of Britain as a whole, that can only benefit the race and cycling in Britain.”

An 18-team line-up of six-rider squads is planned for The Tour of Britain, with the first ten teams confirmed at the race’s national launch. Joining a Great Britain national squad in the race will be nine top-level UCI Pro Tour teams – Belkin Pro Cycling, BMC, Cannondale, Garmin Sharp, Movistar, Omega Pharma Quick-Step, Team Giant Shimano, Team Sky and Tinkoff – Saxo.

The identities of the remaining teams, as well as detailed route maps from new Tour partners Ordnance Survey showcasing intermediate Yodel Direct Sprints and SKODA King of the Mountains climbs will be announced in the summer.

The Tour of Britain 2014
Stage One Sunday 7 September Liverpool
Stage Two Monday 8 September Knowsley to Llandudno
Stage Three Tuesday 9 September Newtown to the Tumble
Stage Four Wednesday 10 September Worcester to Bristol
Stage Five Thursday 11 September Exmouth to Exeter
Stage Six Friday 12 September Bath to Hemel Hempstead
Stage Seven Saturday 13 September Camberley to Brighton
Stage Eight a Sunday 14 September London individual time trial, presented by TfL
Stage Eight b Sunday 14 September London circuit race, presented by TfL
History – The Tour of Britain
Re-launched in 2004 after a five year absence from the calendar, The Tour of Britain is now the UK’s biggest professional cycle race and the country’s largest free-to-watch sporting event. Upgraded to 2.HC level by the UCI, the sport’s governing body, for 2014, The Tour of Britain attracts the world’s top cyclists, including Olympic and World Champions and Tour de France stage winners, to compete on British roads each September.

You can follow The Tour of Britain on Twitter, via www.twitter.com/tourofbritain

 

Other Results on VeloUK (including reports containing results)

Other News on VeloUK

Tags: , ,