Tour of Britain 2009: route unveiled
- Tuesday, 5 May 2009
- 2 Comments
The 2009 Tour of Britain will start in Scunthorpe and finish eight days later with a criterium in London this September.
The route of the sixth edition of the race was announced today at the Transport Museum in London.
Most of the start and finish towns were named, although details of the roads to be used each day will be released nearer the time.
The exact hills to be used in the King of the Mountains competition are also still to be disclosed, although we do know the race will be going over Exmoor on stage six.
As in previous years there are significant transfers between the stages, as the race features stages in Yorkshire, the north east, Scotland, the north west plus two days in the West Country.
The Prostate Cancer Charity is the event's new partner, although Eon, who sponsored the KOM competition last year, have pulled out.
The race will be shown on ITV4.
THE STAGES
September 12
Stage 1, Scunthorpe - York (172km) - flat stage
September 13
Stage 2, Darlington - Gateshead (157km) - flat
September 14
Stage 3, Scottish Borders - Dumfries & Galloway (170km) - hilly
September 15
Stage 4, Northwest - Blackpool (160km) - rolling
September 16
Stage 5, Stoke on Trent - Stoke on Trent (135km) - toughest stage yet (includes Gunhill)
September 17
Stage 6, Frome - Bideford (187km) - hilly
September 18
Stage 7, Hatherleigh - Yeovil (159km) - Queen stage
September 19
Stage 8, London - London (92km) - flattish 9km criterium
The route of the 2009 Tour of Britain
COMMENT
Whilst the announcement of the route of the 2009 Tour of Britain was unveiled with great fanfare in Covent Garden's London Transport Museum, Cycling Weekly left with more questions than answers.
The occasion was billed as launch of the route itself, although no details of the exact route were given aside from the start and finish towns.
A possible extension to nine days was hinted at for 2010, whilst the final London stage will now finish in Whitehall, outside Downing street.
The inclusion of the LPR and Rock Racing teams that courted a great deal of controversy last year may be repeated again this year with the race organisers failing to answer the question directly about whether they would be included.
As with previous editions, the long transfers between stages remain, with the 154-mile transfer from Stoke-on-Trent to Frome looking the most arduous.
PREVIOUS WINNERS
2008 Geoffroy Lequatre (France) Agritubel
2007 Romain Feillu (France) Agritubel
2006 Martin Pedersen (Denmark) CSC
2005 Nick Nuyens (Belgium) Quick Step
2004 Mauricio Ardila (Colombia) Chocolade Jacques
Reader comments
Add your commentsAugust 11 18:14
karen gilbert
on the tour of Britain website, there is no information on stage 4. I'd love to go and watch,but need to know where it goes.
September 21 13:03
TESSA
Hi I marshalled for the Tour of Britain last year and this year. I really enjoyed marshalling for them and ,as well looked after by the Tour of Britain team. The only item I feel they could improve on is when doing the commentary on ITV4, could they please tell us the names of the places the cyclists are going through. As for many people who are unable to travel, and watch the event on tv,they don,t always know the places the cyclists are going through.