Tour Of Britain Unveils 2009 Route

SweetSpot, organisers of The Tour of Britain cycling race, have unveiled the route for the 2009 event with the race taking place over eight days beginning in Yorkshire on Saturday 12th September and finishing in the heart of London on Saturday 19th September.

The Tour of Britain 2009 will visit a total of fourteen venues, including previous host cities London and Dumfries and Galloway, while others such as York and Bideford will be new to the race.

96 of the world’s top cyclists will once again be taking on the challenge of The Tour of Britain in 2009, with a route designed to deliver an overall winner to join the ranks of previous yellow jerseys such as Geoffroy Lequatre, Romain Feillu and Nick Nuyens.

The Tour of Britain 2009, which will begin with a Grand Depart in Scunthorpe for the first stage, which finishes in York, will see a combination of familiar venues and regions, as well as new additions to the route.

Subsequent stages will re-visit the North East as The Tour once again travels from Darlington to NewcastleGateshead on Stage Two, while Stage Three will see the northern most point of the race, as The Tour heads to Scotland and takes in the Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway.

The race then heads south, with Stage Four featuring the North West of England and Blackpool, with Stage Five both starting and finishing in Stoke-on-Trent, via a day’s racing through the scenic North Staffordshire countryside, including the infamous Gun Hill.

The South West, scene of some of the races biggest crowds in 2008, has two stages in 2009, with Stage Six taking the riders across Exmoor as the pass from Somerset into Devon, on their journey from Frome to Bideford.

The penultimate day of the race then sees the peloton retrace its steps, from Hatherleigh in Devon to Yeovil in Somerset.

A final day of racing will round out the 2009 Tour, as riders tackle the iconic London circuit that opened last year’s race which takes in the Houses of Parliament, Victoria Embankments, The Tower of London, and starts and finishes on Whitehall.

For the second year running full coverage of the race will be televised on ITV, with viewers able to watch an hour long nightly highlights show of all the action on ITV4, between 7pm – 8pm, with repeats the following day.

The Tour of Britain is partnered with The Prostate Cancer Charity.