The British cycling interest is at an all-time high and that is reflected in the constant growth of the country's pinnacle event, Tour of Britain. This year the race has attracted its strongest line-up ever, and they will be challenge by the hardest route ever seen for the 8-day race. Nairo Quintana and local hero Bradley Wiggins use the race as their final preparation for the world championships while Mark Cavendish leads a strong list of sprinters which includes riders like Elia Viviani, Gerald Ciolek and Sacha Modolo. You can follow the next few stages on CyclingQuotes.com/live.
For some riders, the Tour of Britain is mainly preparation for the world championships but for others it's an important event in its own right. Bradley Wiggins' main objective may be the world time trial championships but the Brit has done nothing to hide that he aims at the overall win in the biggest big race in his home country. He has done recons of the key stages that include a 16km time trial, the well-known, tough stage to Caerphilly and the first ever summit finish. Riders like Dan Martin, Nairo Quintana, Giovanni Visconti, Thomas Löfkvist, Stefano Pirazzi, Francesco Bongiorno, Lucas Euser, Philip Deignan and Sergio Pardilla make sure that he will face hard competition on the climbs while Alex Dowsett who beat him in the long Giro time trial, will challenge him in the race against the clock. And finally, there's great expectation for the Yates brothers who both did well at the recent Tour de l'Avenir and now face the world elite on home soil.
Today it is time for the queen stage which is a historical one. The short 137km stage is rather hilly all day with two category 2 climbs at the midpoint of the stage but it is the finale that makes the stage unique. The Tour of Britain has never had a summit finish before and so it is a maiden experience for the race when the riders cross the line at the top of the 5,8km category 1 climb Haytor. It has an average gradient of 6% but is highly irregular with several far steeper sections. Unless something unexpected happens on the two flat stages in the weekend, this is the day to determine the final overall classification!
Starting at 15.00 CEST you can follow the stage here.
30.03: The Bueng Si Fai |
30.03: Gran Premio Miguel Indurain |
30.03: Volta Limburg Classic |
31.03: Ronde van Vlaanderen |
31.03: Ronde van Vlaanderen |
29.03 - 01.04: Ster van Zuid Limburg |
01.04: Gran Premio del Perdono |
01.04: Ronde de Mouscron |
01.04: Giro del Belvedere |
02.04: G.P. Palio del Recioto |
Piotr KIEBLESZ 35 years | today |
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Maurizio VANOTTI 37 years | today |
Laurent PAUMIER 51 years | today |
Willian Alves De ARAUJO 38 years | today |
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