2009 Tour of Britain Launched

Story posted May 5
Event website: www.tourofbritain.co.uk

The route of the 2009 Tour of Britain was unveiled this afternoon at The London Transport Museum in Covent Garden. SweetSpot Group CEO Hugh Roberts and Technical Director Mick Bennett revealed the route to the packed auditorium, outlining key features that will mark the sixth edition of the country’s biggest professional bike race and Britain’s biggest live sporting event.

Among the special guests in attendance were John Neate, Chief Executive of The Prostate Cancer Charity, who spoke about the charity’s new partnership with The Tour of Britain, while also present was Geoffroy Lequatre, winner of the 2008 Tour of Britain.

The 2009 Tour of Britain will be the sixth running of the race, which continues to grow from strength to strength, attracting millions of spectators to the roadside and hundreds of thousands more via the daily highlights programme on ITV4.

Geoffroy Lequatre salutes the huge crowd in Liverpool as he wins the 2008 Tour of Britain

The Tour of Britain begins in Yorkshire at Scunthorpe on Saturday 12th September, finishing eight days later in the centre of London on Saturday 19th September. The South West has been awarded two stages of the race for the first time ever, which will take in both Devon and Somerset.

A field of 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 a worthy overall winner to join the ranks of previous yellow jerseys such as Geoffroy Lequatre, Romain Feillu and Nick Nuyens.

On the way from the Grand Depart in Scunthorpe to the final stage in London, riders will face every kind of challenge that the UK’s roads have to offer, from the rolling roads of the Scottish borders to the tough climbs of Exmoor via windswept coastal roads and much more in between.

The 2009 Tour will visit a total of fourteen venues, some of which will be old favourites of the race like London and Dumfries and Galloway, while others like York and Bideford will be new to The Tour of Britain.

Subsequent stages will re-visit the North East as The Tour once again travels from Darlington to Newcastle Gateshead 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 Tour of Britain 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, with a hard days racing in store through the scenic North Staffordshire countryside.

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, on a stage that could decide the winner of this year's race.

A spectacular final day of racing will round out the 2009 Tour, as riders tackle the iconic London circuit that opened last year's race.

For the second year running there will be full coverage of the race on ITV, with viewers able to once again enjoy an hour long nightly highlights show of all the action on ITV4, between 7pm – 8pm, with repeats the following day, so if you can't make it out to your nearest stage, you won't miss out on any of the battle to win the 2009 Tour of Britain.