Guide: Great Britain Cycling Team at the 2015 Tour de l'Avenir

Guide: Great Britain Cycling Team at the 2015 Tour de l'Avenir

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Six riders will represent Great Britain Cycling Team at the 2015 Tour de l’Avenir in France from 22-29 August, the final round of the UCI under-23 Nations’ Cup.

Gabriel Cullaigh, Jake Kelly, Chris Lawless and Mark Stewart of the Great Britain Olympic Senior Academy Programme will be joined by Alex Peters and Stephen Williams for the Tour of the Future.

The race, in its 52nd edition is considered a Tour de France for developing riders and has been a fixture of the UCI under-23 Nations’ Cup calendar since 2007.

The team

Gabz Cullaigh at RideLondon

A quartet of British Cycling Olympic Senior Academy Programme riders are joined by new Team Sky's recruit Alex Peters and 19-year-old Pedal Heaven rider Stephen Williams.

Peters, 21, has earned a move to the WorldTour outfit after notable performances with SEG Racing after moving from Madison Genesis.

Second at the 2014 An Post Ras and the 2015 Tour de Normandie have highlighted Peter’s general classification credentials.

Williams has impressed on the British circuit including the British Cycling Elite Road Series, Elite Circuit Series and Pearl Izumi Tour Series as well as being crowned Welsh road racing champion in Llandrindod.

Chris Lawless has enjoyed a fruitful season to date with new outfit Team Wiggins. The 19-year-old took his latest win at the Grand Prix of Wales in the British Cycling Elite Road Series.

Victories have also come in the Stockton Velo29-Altura Town Centre Race in the Elite Circuit Series and round six of the Peral Izumi Tour Series in Barrow.

Jake Kelly has featured heavily for the Great Britain Cycling Team, starting the year in the Jayco Herald Sun Tour before racing in the Tour de Yorkshire and more recently, the RideLondon Classic.

Great Britain Cycling Team's Jake Kelly at RideLondon

Gabirel Culliagh has also been a regular and took an excellent win in the opening stage of the Course de la Paix, the sprinter also victorious at the Stafford Grand Prix in the Elite Road Series.

Mark Stewart has mixed road and track, starting the year as part of a youthful team that won team pursuit bronze for Great Britain at the UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Cali.

He has since raced at events including the Tour de Yorkshire, Course de la Paix and under-23 European track championships.

Keith Lambert, Great Britain Cycling Team academy coach, said: “The Tour de l’Avenir gives young riders a fantastic chance to express themselves on a prestigious stage and it is an opportunity we are proud to offer our academy riders."

Stage-by-stage

Prologue - Saturday 22 August

2015 Tour de l'Avenir prologue

A short 3.5-kilometre prologue in Tonnerre in north-central France starts the race, rising up to Rue des Lices before a downhill finish over the last one-and-a-half kilometres.

Stage 1 - Sunday 23 August

2015 Tour de l'Avenir stage one

A flat 160.5 kilometres from Chablis to Toucy is disturbed by two category-four climbs - the Cote de Vezelay and the Cote du Touchy.

The latter, a 2.4-kilomtre climb coming just 11-kilometres from the finish, could be the catalyst for a final attack.

Stage 2 - Monday 24 August

2015 Tour de l'Avenir stage two

At 193.5km from Avallon to Arbois, stage two contains two category-four climbs in the first half of the parcours before a flat run-in to Arbois.  

Stage 3 - Tuesday 25 August

2015 Tour de l'Avenir stage three

Two climbs - the Col de la Percee and Cote de Chateau Chalon in the first 50km of stage three from Champagnole to Tournus could see the race fragment.

But with 70 kilometres of flat terrain following to the finish, any break will have a hard time staying clear of the bunch.

Stage 4 - Wednesday 26 August

2015 Tour de l'Avenir stage four

Two ascensions of the Col de Chatillon-sur-Cluses could be the first major chance for general classification contenders to make significant gains, with just ten kilometres from the summit of the climb to the stage finish in Cluses.

The second time up the climb as a category-two due to its distance of nine kilometres.

Stage 5 - Thursday 27 August

2015 Tour de l'Avenir stage five

Three first-category climbs ending with a summit finish on Montee de la Rosiere are crammed into 103.1km, not mentioning the opening Col des Saisies.

Nearly half of the stage distance, 45.3km, will be spent on the four climbs as the stage works its way through the Rhone-Alpes region in south-eastern France.

Stage 6 - Friday 28 August

2015 Tour de l'Avenir stage six

The penultimate stage of the race in the Alps includes the hors-categorie Col de la Madeleine which has featured in the Tour de France on 25 occasions and puts riders through 24.8km of climbing at an average gradient of 6.1%

The Col de Beau Plan category-one climb adds a final twist before the decent into Saint-Michel-Demaurienne.

Stage 7 - Saturday 29 August

2015 Tour de l'Avenir stage seven

The queen stage features three more category-one climbs in the French Alps to ensure a brutal end to the race over 93.5km.

The steepest, the Col de la Croix de Fer from stage 20 of this year’s Tour de France, reaches 2066m after seven kilometres of climbing at 8%.

The stunning Lacets de Montvernier, with its hairpin bends, is in relation tame before a second and final summit finish of the Tour de l‘Avenir comes on the Montee des Bottieres.

How to follow the racing

  • Updates on Twitter @BritishCycling.
  • Report and images from each stage on the British Cycling website.