This year's race will take place primarily in the middle of the nation, so if you live south of Manchester or north of Reading.
Tour Of Britain 2023: Britain’s largest race, the Tour of Britain, returns for (hopefully) a full run in 2023, following a shortened edition in 2022 due to police being called away to administer the Queen’s funeral.
This year’s race will take place primarily in the middle of the nation, so if you live south of Manchester or north of Reading, you have few excuses not to cheer on your favourite rider.
Wout van Aert, the defending champion, and Tom Pidcock, the runner-up in 2022 and hopeful winner in 2023, are among the riders expected to light up the competition.
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Greater Manchester to Altrincham Route
Today’s route is nearly identical to the final stage of the 2019 tour, beginning in Altrincham and ending in Manchester via the undulating terrain of the surrounding area, including the category two climb of Grains Bar (2.4 kilometres at 5.8%) and the category one climb of Ramsbottom Rake (1.3 kilometres at 8.8%). The pressure exerted by Ineos Grenadiers on these climbs and a number of unclassified ascents was sufficient to reduce the peloton to a handful of riders.
Mathieu van der Poel won a reduced bunch sprint at the conclusion of the race, but not before we were entertained by a flurry of assaults as teams battled for control.
Route: Wrexham to Wrexham
With a length of only 109.9 kilometres, this is a remarkably brief stage by any measure, and as a result, we may see some unusual racing. Shorter stages tend to generate more intense competition, as riders can attack earlier knowing they won’t have to maintain their efforts for as long.
Expect riders to try their luck regardless of the fact that the route provides few opportunities for assaults, as it travels westwards across the border and into Cheshire rather than eastwards towards the hills of the Clwydian Range to the west.
With only 18.5 kilometres remaining, the Eyton Hill, a category three ascent, will be the most crucial obstacle. It is near enough to the finish line for attackers to fully commit, but will the shallow gradients (averaging between 2% and 3%) be sufficient to create meaningful gaps?
Route: Going from Goole to Beverley
The riders will leave the small market town of Goole and travel north-northeast to Bridlington, before travelling south along the coast and then back inland to conclude in Beverley. Beverley previously hosted the start of Tour de Yorkshire stages in 2016 and 2018, with Harry Tanfield winning the 2016 stage from a successful breakaway and Dylan Groenewegen winning the 2018 stage in a sprint.
Similar to the course of the town’s renowned racecourse, today’s parcours before reaching Beverly is mostly flat, but there are a few potential obstacles to surmount if a sprint finish is desired. The category three hills of Towthorpe Lane and Langtoft must be climbed during the first stage, followed by a 35-kilometer stretch near the coast that could produce echelons if a strong wind blows in the correct direction. In principle, this should be the most certain-win stage for sprinters to date.
Route: Sherwood Forest to Newark-on-Trent
After departing from Edwinstone in Sherwood Forest, an area associated with Robin Hood, the riders confront Kilton Hill, the first of the day’s two category three climbs, just 15 kilometres into the stage. Then, following a brief crossing into Yorkshire and a ride through Haworth, where a monument to Tom Simpsons stands, they will head back south to conquer the following ascent, Red Hill Lane.
There are 85 kilometres between the summit of Red Hill Lane and the finish, so there is ample time for a bunch sprint.
Route: From Felixstowe to Felixstowe
Possibly to compensate for the dearth of challenging terrain, the organisers have made stage five less straightforward than it would have been otherwise by extending it to a total of 192.4 kilometres. This makes it by far the longest stage of the race and may prevent it from being the expected sprint stage.
Small undulations in the road that would ordinarily be passed over without a second thought will burn the legs of the weaker riders, and a crosswind could propel a strong team to the front on any exposed roads, given the proximity to the coast.
Route: Southend-on-Sea to Harlow
Today’s stage will likely be the last opportunity for sprinters to vie for a stage victory. There is only one official climb to be conquered, and it is a mild category three climb with 46km remaining between its summit and the finish line for the peloton to bring back any hopeful attackers who attempt to use its shallow gradients to break away.
Route: Tewkesbury to Gloucester
The race administrators have utilised the undulating terrain of the Cotswolds to design a route that should be selective and one of the most crucial stages of the overall competition.
Twenty kilometres after the start in Tewksbury, there is a category two climb up Winchcombe Hill, but the main action is reserved for the final thirty kilometres. First, the category two Crawley Hill, which has a steep incline of over 20%, followed by an unclassified but deceptively difficult 3-kilometer ascent to the village of Edge, which includes a similarly steep incline of 15%.
Route: Margam Country Park to Caerphilly
The upcoming ascents may not be notably different from those completed earlier in the week, but the level of difficulty has increased significantly.
When the race heads up to the outskirts of Bannau Brycheiniog (formerly Brecon Beacons) national park to tackle the day’s first two category one climbs, Rhigos and Bryn Du, it becomes abundantly apparent that this is the case.
And after a 35-kilometer trek to the south-east from the summit of the latter comes a double-ascent of the day’s most significant climb, Caerphilly Mountain, where the fate of the Tour of Britain could be decided.
In reality, it is more of a hill than a mountain, as it is only 1.3 kilometres long, but that’s still enough road for its average gradient of 10% to really hurt and force selection.
Blue: Leader’s GC suit
The overall winner of the race as determined by the cumulative duration of each stage.
Green: cottages.com sprints jersey
The daily scoring for the top 10 cyclists is as follows: 25, 18, 12, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Ten, seven, five, three, and one points are awarded to the first five cyclists in an intermediate sprint.
Black: Pinarello KOM jersey
First-category climbs award points to the first 10 cyclists in descending order, starting at 10. On second-cat climbs, the first six cyclists receive six points, while the first rider on third-cat climbs receives four points.
White: young rider’s jersey
Awarded to the finest GC rider under the age of 23.
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