the country’s largest free to attend event
The Tour of Britain today unveiled the route for the 2010 event, which will take place across eight days of racing from 11th to the 18th September. The launch event, which took place at the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden, saw the race route unveiled to an audience of invited guests and industry insiders.
The 2010 Tour of Britain will start in the north west of England on Saturday 11 September and finish in London the following weekend on Saturday 18 September, giving Britain’s cycling fans a first chance to see Team Sky take on the world’s best on British roads.
The 2010 event visits several established venues for the Tour of Britain, but also travels to several regions and venues for the first time, visiting Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex in the east of England and revisiting Wales for the first time since the revival of the event in 2004.
“This year’s event sees the Tour of Britain race into several new regional venues, and for the first time ever we will have two stages take place in the east of England, bringing the race to new audiences in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex,” said Michael Bennett, Technical Director of The Tour of Britain. “We are delighted to be bringing the race back into Wales this year and look forward to a tough stage into Swansea. On the way from the Grand Depart to the final stage in London, riders will face tough routes and intense competition, while taking in some breathtaking views of our wonderful country.”
96 of the world’s top cyclists from 16 top professional international teams will take on the challenge of the Tour of Britain in 2010, with a route designed to deliver a worthy overall winner to join the ranks of previous yellow jerseys such as Edvald Boasson Hagen, Geoffroy Lequatre, Romain Feillu and Nick Nuyens.
The 2010 Route
The eight stages for the 2010 Tour of Britain are:
• Stage 1 – 11 September – Rochdale to Blackpool (126km)
• Stage 2 – 12 September – Stoke-on-Trent to Stoke-on-Trent (160km)
• Stage 3 – 13 September – Newton to Swansea (150km)
• Stage 4 – 14 September – Minehead to Teignmouth (171km)
• Stage 5 – 15 September – Tavistock to Glastonbury (176km)
• Stage 6 – 16 September – King’s Lynn to Great Yarmouth (189km)
• Stage 7 – 17 September – Bury St Edmunds to Colchester (151km)
• Stage 8 – 18 September – The TfL London Stage (100km)
Stage one of The Tour of Britain 2009, which will set off from Rochdale on Saturday 11th September, will finish in the spectacular seaside resort of Blackpool.
The Tour of Britain then heads south, with Stage Two starting and finishing in Stoke-on-Trent via a hard day’s racing through the scenic north Staffordshire countryside, including the infamous Gun Hill.
Stage Three visits Wales for the first time since 2004 and, after a tough stage the peloton will head up Constitution Hill before the finish in Swansea. From here the race moves onto the South West for stages Four and Five, scene of some of the race’s biggest crowds in 2008 and 2009.
From there the race moves onto to the east of England, visiting Norfolk for the very first time for Stage Six. This also happens to be the longest stage of this year’s race, taking in 189 kilometres across the county. The penultimate day of the race sees the peloton race from Suffolk’s Bury St Edmunds to Essex’s Colchester on a stage that could decide the winner of this year’s race.
The final day of racing will see the riders take on a brand new race circuit in the London borough of Newham, host borough for the London Olympic and Para-Olympic Games 2012, where the winner of the 2010 Tour of Britain will be crowned.
The Prostate Cancer Charity Partnership
For the second year, The Prostate Cancer Charity is the exclusive charity partner of The Tour of Britain. This partnership sees the two organisations put on three mass participation events in 2010, The Prostate Cancer Charity Tour Rides, following the success of the inaugural events last year in Stoke-on-Trent and London.
The first of these events, which offers participants the choice of three distances, will take place on Sunday 5 September. It will give cyclists the chance to ride Stage Four of the 2010 Tour of Britain, in the South West. The second event will take place on Sunday 26 September, covering the same route as Stage Two of The Tour, in Stoke-on-Trent. There will also be a more leisurely ride held on the final stage of The Tour of Britain, in London, on Saturday 18 September.
Daily ITV coverage
For the third successive year, full coverage of the race will be televised on ITV, with viewers able to enjoy an hour-long nightly highlights show of all the action on ITV4 between 7pm – 8pm, with repeats the following day.
For more information on The Tour of Britain 2010, please visit www.tourofbritain.co.uk
