More demand than ever for invitations to week-long race that comes just before the World Championships
The Tour of Britain is experiencing more demand for invitations than ever before, even from the teams at the top level of the sport, the race organiser announced today. The race was revived in 2004 after years of absence and has been growing steadily ever since; last year’s event was won by Michael Albasini of HTC-Highroad.
“As ever we’ve had far more teams approach us with a view to riding The Tour of Britain than we could ever hope to accommodate”, said Race Director Mick Bennett.
“It is rewarding for everyone here in the team at SweetSpot to have so many ProTeam squads wanting to be a part of The Tour of Britain, and we are certainly aiming to have 50% of the field in September made up of ProTeams.”
With the Tour of Britain’s 2.1-ranked status, 50% is the maximum allowed teams from the sport’s top level; the demand from the big teams, says Bennett is due to the race's position in the calendar.
“The fact that The Tour of Britain is ideally situated less than a week before the World Championships take place in Denmark means we will continue to attract world-class riders targeting the Worlds and looking for a tough race in which to hone their form,” he explained.
Many riders have used the Vuelta a España to build their form on the way to the World Championships; many drop out of the race mid-way though, meaning that the shorter Tour of Britain, which features far smaller mountains may be better for preparing for Copenhagen, particularly with the course being apparently so suitable for the sprinters.
As an event in the European Tour, the Tour of Britain has an obligation towards the Continental teams that make up the sport’s third division. As well as this, the race is keen to offer the opportunity to as many British teams as possible.
“We have always sought to have a mixture of ProTeam, ProContinental and Continental professional teams racing in The Tour of Britain as we believe this makes for the most exciting and entertaining racing,” said Bennet. “However the current communiqué from the UCI has put us under pressure to increase the number of Continental teams competing in the event.
“Last year we had six Continental teams competing, five of which were British, and while we would obviously want those teams to return again in 2011,” he explained, “we must also now take into account that the leading three Continental teams from the UCI Europe Tour have to be invited, plus the additional interest from some of the world’s biggest teams, such as Leopard Trek.
At present there are due to be a total of sixteen invitations to the race, which, with six riders per team would mean a peloton of 96 riders. Currently, UK law dictates that a peloton of more than 100 riders must seek permission from the Chief Constable of every police force of whose jurisdiction the race will pass through. With most police forces in the UK organised at county level, this means that almost twenty will have to be involved; the race’s organisation is currently considering this.
“In an ideal world we would be able to incorporate all of these entries; unfortunately we cannot. Over the coming weeks once we have been notified by the UCI of the teams we must invite then we will look to finalise the 2011 entry list, taking into account a number of factors. I’m sure though that come Sunday 11th September there will be a world-class line-up taking to the start line in the Scottish Borders.”
The Tour of Britain will run from September 11th to 18th, starting in Scotland and finishing in London. Further details of stage towns and routes, as well as team invitations will be announced at the race’s official launch in the spring.