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British multi-day road cycling race From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Tour of Britain Women is a women's cycle stage race held in England and Wales, as part of the UCI Women's World Tour. The race was organised between 2014 and 2023 by SweetSpot, the company behind the men's Tour of Britain, and was known as The Women's Tour.
Race details | |
---|---|
Date | May or June |
Region | Great Britain |
Discipline | Road |
Competition | UCI Women's World Tour |
Type | Stage race |
Organiser | British Cycling |
Web site | www |
History | |
First edition | 2014 |
Editions | 9 (as of 2024) |
First winner | Marianne Vos (NED) |
Most wins | Lizzie Deignan (GBR) (2 wins) |
Most recent | Lotte Kopecky (BEL) |
Its origins trace back to 2010 when SweetSpot organised their first women's cycling race, the Horizon Fitness Grand Prix in Stoke-on-Trent. What began as a supporting event for the men's Tour Series – Britain's leading televised cycle race series – grew into a key part of the women's racing scene in Britain, thanks to television coverage on ITV4 in the UK and around the world. In 2018, Britain's leading women's teams took part in the whole series for the first time.[1]
At the launch of the 2013 Tour of Britain, SweetSpot MD Chairman Hugh Roberts and director Guy Elliott announced[2] the company's intentions to create a standalone stage race for the world's top female cyclists in Britain – the first event of its kind.
As a prelude to the inaugural race in 2014, a women's one-day race was held on the final day of the 2013 Tour of Britain in London, won by Hannah Barnes.[3] As history would show, SweetSpot's move was one that the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana organisers would announce some months later.
Just a week after this SweetSpot received the news that the Women's Tour had been granted a place on the UCI calendar for May 2014, being granted what was the highest possible ranking for a stage race (2.1) at the time.[4] This put it instantly on a par with the world's top races for women. The first edition was a widely acclaimed success, attracting the world's top riders and teams and widespread media coverage for women's cycling in the UK.
While the first edition of the race took place in May (Wednesday 7 - Sunday 11), the second edition in 2015 moved to a mid-June position,[5] a slot it has held on the UCI calendar ever since – with the exception of the 2021 edition, where it was delayed to October due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2016, the race became a part of the inaugural UCI Women's World Tour,[6] the leading series of races for professional women cyclists.
In 2017, the finished in London for the first time in race history,[7] with Belgian rider Jolien D'Hoore winning the stage.[8] Wales hosted the race for the first time in 2018, with the final stage taking place between Dolgellau and Colwyn Bay.[9][10] The Women's Tour expanded to six days for the first time in 2019.[11] The increase in days also heralded a slight shift of event days, as the race ran from Monday to Saturday.[12]
SweetSpot announced in March 2020[13][14] that the planned seventh edition of the race, scheduled to take place between Monday 8 and Saturday 13 June, was postponed owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. The race's Grand Départ in Bicester, Oxfordshire[15] and final stage in Suffolk[16] had already been announced. Organisers said that they "hope to work with the UCI and British Cycling to find an alternative date in the international cycling calendar for the race to take place should conditions permit."[17] On 4 May, the 2020 Tour was cancelled.[18] In February 2021, the 2021 Women's Tour was postponed from June to October.[19]
The 2022 race returned to its traditional calendar slot in June, with a mountain top finish at Black Mountain in the Brecon Beacons.
SweetSpot announced the 2023 race route on 9 March 2023, but warned that the loss of key sponsors (such as previous vehicle partner Škoda) and increased running costs (20% higher than 2022 race) had left a shortfall in funding and that urgent additional income was required to ensure that the race could go ahead.[20] On 31 March 2023, SweetSpot announced that the race would go on hiatus in 2023, in light of the above financial issues.[21] In January 2024, organiser and promoter SweetSpot entered liquidation and the race was removed from the 2024 calendar.[22][23] The following month, British Cycling took over the running of the race, which was to be renamed as the Tour of Britain Women, and the race returned to the calendar but over a shorter four-day itinerary.[24][25]
Year | Country | Rider | Team | |
---|---|---|---|---|
2014 | Netherlands | Marianne Vos | Rabo–Liv | |
2015 | Germany | Lisa Brennauer | Velocio–SRAM | |
2016 | Great Britain | Lizzie Armitstead | Boels–Dolmans | |
2017 | Poland | Katarzyna Niewiadoma | WM3 Pro Cycling | |
2018 | United States | Coryn Rivera | Team Sunweb | |
2019 | Great Britain | Lizzie Deignan | Trek–Segafredo | |
2020 | No race due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.[18] | |||
2021 | Netherlands | Demi Vollering | SD Worx | |
2022 | Italy | Elisa Longo Borghini | Trek–Segafredo | |
2023 | No race due to lack of funding.[21] | |||
2024 | Belgium | Lotte Kopecky | Team SD Worx–Protime |
Overall winners[26]
Stage winners[26]
Host venues[26]
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