Friends Life Unveils Tour Of Britain Sponsorship
Pensions and retirement company Friends Life has announced that it will become the first title sponsor the Tour of Britain and The Women’s Tour cycling races, after backing the inaugural edition of the women’s event earlier this year.
As well as taking title rights to both races, bringing the male and female professional road races under one banner, Friends Life will lend its name to the yellow jersey worn each day by the race leader.
The brand will also sponsor the Tour Ride, an associated mass participation event which takes place in October.
The Tour of Britain, won last year by Sir Bradley Wiggins, is the UK’s biggest professional cycling event, with 108 elite riders racing the nine-stage, 1,350km course. This year’s event begins in Liverpool and runs from 7th to 14th September.
Andy Briggs, group chief executive at Friends Life, said: ‘Cycling is now hugely popular in Britain and we want to encourage and support its growing popularity by sponsoring the Tour of Britain.’
‘The success of the inaugural Friends Life Women’s Tour has fuelled our enthusiasm for elite road racing and the inspiration it brings to a wider cycling audience.’
‘This sponsorship also gives us the opportunity to demonstrate how the discipline of being a cycling professional is similar to being financially fit. Our business is about being financially prepared through each stage of life whether it’s saving for retirement or protecting families.’
Jonny Clay, British Cycling director of cycle sport, added: ‘We saw with the Tour de France the huge appetite there is to watch bike racing in this country and today’s announcement is reward for the years of hard work which have gone into the Tour of Britain and the Women’s Tour.’
‘The success of the inaugural Women’s Tour, added to the ever-improving Tour of Britain, demonstrates British cycle sport’s growing strength in the world of major events. Both are hugely important to British Cycling’s strategy to use elite cycling to inspire more people to get on their bikes.’
