Wales to host opening phases for rebranded Tour of Britain Women in June

British Cycling introduced right now the host cities stretching from Welshpool to Manchester for a “monumental effort” to launch this yr’s Tour of Britain Women, previously referred to as Women’s Tour. The rebranded occasion, which was cancelled final yr and has had a turbulent path to a rebranding by British Cycling, will start in 10 weeks, scheduled for June 6-9 as a Women’s WorldTour occasion.

“Our main focus has been to ship a protected and aggressive race in 2024, and whereas there’s nonetheless quite a lot of work to do, we stay each bit as decided to harness the race’s highlight to make an actual influence within the communities which it touches,” mentioned Jon Dutton, CEO of British Cycling.

“We know that it’s a imaginative and prescient which resonates strongly within the constructive conversations we have been having with potential industrial companions and hosts which continues to be extraordinarily encouraging.”

It was two weeks in the past that British Cycling confirmed the lads’s Tour of Britain can be arrange with six phases, down from a complete of eight days contested in 2023. It was the objective of the governing physique to have “parity to the 2 nationwide excursions, following the alignment of the occasion names in 2024”, a press launch famous. The dates haven’t been confirmed on the UCI calendar on the time of this report.

Last spring the Women’s Tour was cancelled as then-organiser, SweetSpot Group Limited, which held the licence to handle each the lads’s and ladies’s race, was unable to signal sponsorships wanted to help the race. The males’s race proceeded in September, gained by Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma). 

Then in November, British Cycling cancelled their take care of SweetSpot because it got here to mild that licence charges of £700,000 have been nonetheless unpaid, based on the governing physique, which holds the rights for the Tour of Britain model. Cycling Weekly additionally reported that the Isle of Wight council was searching for £350,000 from SweetSpot for cash owed when the ultimate phases they have been to host on the 2022 Tour of Britain have been cancelled as a result of dying of the Queen.

Both the Tour of Britain and Women’s Tour had been faraway from the UCI’s 2024 calendar, the ladies scheduled to race in June and the lads the primary week in September. British Cycling got here to the rescue and reclaimed operations for each races, rebranding the ladies’s race however not confirming different particulars. In March, they named Rod Ellingworth as race director of the Tour of Britain, his first position since departing the administration of Ineos Grenadiers throughout the winter.

“It’s been a monumental effort by the entire group over the previous 10 weeks to substantiate the phases for this yr’s Tour of Britain Women,” mentioned Rod Ellingworth, who was introduced as Tour of Britain Race Director in March.

“The race will absorb 4 aggressive and difficult routes, some difficult climbing in Wales and what I’m positive shall be good crowds on the roadside all through.” 

The first half of the four-day stage race shall be held in Wales, with Welshpool serving because the host for the Grand Départ on Thursday, June 6, with a northerly route taking within the picturesque seaside city of Llandudno. Wrexham takes up the reins for the stage 2 begin and end, taking in a collection of difficult climbs within the dramatic Clwydian Range and Dee Valley. 

Warrington, in north-west England, will host stage 3 and a flatter route for the sprinters.  The finale will happen in Manchester, with the beginning from the National Cycling Centre and a end in Leigh. Full route particulars for every of the 4 phases shall be introduced within the coming weeks. 

Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) gained the final version of the Women’s Tour in 2022, with a one-second margin over Grace Brown (FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope). 

Briton Lizzie Deignan (Lidl-Trek) is a two-time winner of the Women’s Tour, in 2016 and 2019, and was happy to have a Women’s WorldTour occasion return to Great Britain.

“It’s all the time particular to race in Britain, and I’m so happy to have two top-level stage races to look ahead to on dwelling soil as I ramp up my preparations for a busy summer season forward,” she mentioned in a British Cycling press launch.

“There’s clearly a lot help and fondness for the race, each at dwelling and additional afield. The 4 stage hosts deserve credit score for his or her dedication to girls’s racing and for serving to to make the race occur, and I’m positive that collectively we will placed on an excellent present in June.”