Tour Of Britain Route Goes Longer Than Ever

The Tour of Britain has unveiled the full route of the 2014 edition, which includes its hardest summit finish yet on the Tumble, one of the longest routes through the mountains of Wales, and a final-day time trial in central London.

The start was confirmed to take place in Liverpool city centre on Monday, with London’s city centre set to bookmark the route at the other end.

This year’s edition will miss Scotland – where the race started last year – and the north and east of England, although the latter areas will instead be compensated with the hosting of the Tour de France Grand Départ in July.

‘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.’

The opening stage in Liverpool involves an eight-mile loop to be covered 10 times, and including a start and finish close to the Liver Building. Next day the finish in Llandudno includes a scenic trip around the hilly Great Orme, with riders eventually crossing the line on the summit of the Tumble, a climb which is nearly four miles long and a far tougher proposition than the 2013 finish on Haytor.

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 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.  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. 

A renewal of an existing agreement, Skoda UK will continue as the official car partner of the race. The UK arm of the Scandinavian carmaker will again sponsor the King of the Mountains jersey, as well as supplying a fleet of 50 support vehicles for the event.