Tour of Britain Women

Last updated

Tour of Britain Women
Race details
DateMay or June
Region Great Britain
Discipline Road
Competition UCI Women's World Tour
Type Stage race
Organiser British Cycling
Web site www.womenstour.co.uk OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
History
First edition2014 (2014)
Editions9 (as of 2024)
First winnerFlag of the Netherlands.svg  Marianne Vos  (NED)
Most winsFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  Lizzie Deignan  (GBR)(2 wins)
Most recentFlag of Belgium (civil).svg  Lotte Kopecky  (BEL)

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.

Contents

History

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]

Overall winners

YearCountryRiderTeam
2014 Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands Marianne Vos Rabo–Liv
2015 Flag of Germany.svg  Germany Lisa Brennauer Velocio–SRAM
2016 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain Lizzie Armitstead Boels–Dolmans
2017 Flag of Poland.svg  Poland Katarzyna Niewiadoma WM3 Pro Cycling
2018 Flag of the United States.svg  United States Coryn Rivera Team Sunweb
2019 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain Lizzie Deignan Trek–Segafredo
2020No race due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. [18]
2021 Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands Demi Vollering SD Worx
2022 Flag of Italy.svg  Italy Elisa Longo Borghini Trek–Segafredo
2023No race due to lack of funding. [21]
2024 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium Lotte Kopecky Team SD Worx–Protime

Classification leaders jerseys

Classification201420152016201720182019202120222024
General Jersey yellow.svg Jersey green.svg Jersey blue.svg Jersey yellow.svg Jersey green.svg
Points Jersey green.svg Jersey blue.svg Soccer Jersey White-Black (borders).png Jersey pink.svg Jersey light blue.svg Jersey pink.svg Jersey red.svg
Youth Jersey white.svg Jersey replaced by sprints jersey Soccer Jersey White-Black (borders).png
SprintsNo award Jersey red.svg No award
Mountains Jersey orange dots.svg Jersey black.svg Jersey green.svg Jersey blue.svg
British Jersey red.svg Jersey violet.svg Jersey light blue.svg Trophy
Team Jersey yellow number.svg No award Jersey yellow number.svg Jersey red number.svg No award Jersey green number.svg No award

Tour facts and figures

Overall winners [26]

Stage winners [26]

Host venues [26]

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