Following on from the news earlier this month that the planned women’s Tour of Britain has been awarded UCI 2.1 status for year one, more details have emerged about next year’s race.
The Tour will begin in Oundle in Northamptonshire, with that opening stage taking place on Wednesday May 7th and running to Northhampton. Stage two will begin in Hinckley and then travel through Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire en route to the finish in Bedford.
The latter was previously the location for the Bedford three day, a long established race on the British calendar.
“We are very excited that Northamptonshire has been chosen to host the first stage of The Women's Tour,” said Heather Smith, the Deputy leader of Northamptonshire county council. “This is an opportunity to showcase our beautiful county to the rest of the world as well as promote cycling and women's sport locally, and will be the start of a summer of cycling events.
"I am particularly pleased that Oundle will be the location for the start of the first stage as this beautiful historic town will make a very memorable setting for the first-ever Grand Depart of The Women's Tour. And of course Northampton, the county town, is a fantastic place to end this historic first stage.”
Further details of the routes for the first two stages will be announced in the New Year, while more information about next year’s route will also be released over the upcoming months.
The race will run between May 7th and 11th, and will be organised by SweetSpot Group, who have been running the Tour of Britain since 2004.
It also runs the Tour Series.
The new race is part of a push to promote women’s competition in Britain. It is modelled on the men’s Tour of Britain, and will have an identical 2.1 ranking.
That will put it on the same points level as races such as the Giro Rosa, the Emakumeen Euskal Bira, the Thüringen-Rundfahrt and the Route de France.
It is expected that many of the world’s top riders and teams will take part in the event.