The UK’s premier elite professional cycle stage road race
5 years old - sustainable successor to the Milk Race, Kellogg’s Tour & Prutour
8 Stages and 15 venues across the country
96 riders in 16 teams of 6 made up of international competitors including World, Olympic and Tour de France Champions
Britain’s most watched sporting event - biggest live spectator audience for a sporting event in the UK
Over 1 million spectators present across the 8 stages
Covered daily on ITV4 for the duration of The Tour (7-8pm).
Doble Motorcycles are Proud to sponsor the start of Stage 8, the final stage of the Tour of Britain.
On 19 September 2009 The Tour of Britain will come to a spectacular end with a day of cycling entertainment in the capital.
With its start on Whitehall, the professionals will embark on the 92km stage to compete on the 10-lap circuit that takes in iconic landmarks such as Big Ben, the Tower of London and the London Eye.
The circuit takes the riders east from Whitehall Place, past the entrance of Downing Street, along the Victoria Embankment in front of famous locations like Cleopatra's Needle, Somerset House and Middle Temple. The gentle climb of Tower Hill makes the turning point outside the Tower of London as the lap retraces its steps back along the Victoria Embankment with stunning views across the Thames.
From the banks of the River Thames the route takes the riders over Westminster Bridge with 1km to go before going past Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament and back to the onto the Start/Finish straight of Whitehall.
At 13.30 riders from The Tour of Britain will sign on at the podium and take to the circuit to warm up ahead of the 14.00 start time for the final stage of the race. Over the next ten laps riders will face three Hot Spot Sprints at the end of laps 3, 5 & 7. The overall winner of The Tour of Britain will be taking home a prize that will leave them, 'better off by bike'!
Honda (UK) has become the official car partner for the Tour of Britain, the professional cycle race which attracts over a million spectators each year. This year, the event takes place from 12 – 19 September over 8 stages around the country.
Honda will provide over 40 support cars to race organisers, SweetSpot, to deliver the largest free-to-attend national cycle stage race in Britain. The fleet, which will be used for routing, planning, marketing and during the actual cycling event, will comprise of British-built Civics and CR-Vs and Honda’s new Insight hybrid car.
The Tour of Britain’s Commercial Manager, Alastair Grant said: “We are thrilled to have Honda on board and look forward to working with them closely. Cycling by its very nature is a green, environmentally friendly sport and mode of transport and the official race cars provided by Honda will be a mix of both British-manufactured and petrol-electric hybrid vehicles, which has great synergy with our aspirations for the race and its environmental credentials.”
Ken Keir, Managing Director, Honda (UK) said: “The Tour of Britain is a fantastic opportunity, the majority of our race support cars are built in Britain and all are low emission, so what better shop window could we have than the huge crowds drawn to this amazing countrywide spectacle."
Honda (UK) Motorcycles will also be supporting the ITV’s chosen television production crew (Century TV), with 4 Pan European motorcycles, for filming along the stages amongst the cyclists.
Honda (UK) is further sponsoring British Olympic cyclist Ed Clancy for the duration of the tour.
