The Tour of Britain will return to Westminster, London for its final stage this year, and the circuit around Whitehall and the Victoria Embankment beside the River Thames. The race finished on a circuit around the iconic streets, which feature many of London’s most famous landmarks, but moved east to the borough of Newham for the finish of last year’s event.
“For our partners and sponsors and of course our fans it is very important that we return to central London, for what will be a spectacular finish to The 2011 Tour of Britain”, said Hugh Roberts, Chief Executive of SweetSpot Group, the race organisers.
“As Britain’s biggest professional cycle race and this country’s largest free-to-spectate sporting event it is important that we finish with an iconic finale,” he added, “and as we showed in 2008 and 2009 there is no better place to hold The Tour of Britain than at the heart of London.
“This is a major commitment from us as organisers of The Tour of Britain, and we can now look forward to working with our partners Transport for London over the coming months to make Sunday 18th September a great celebration of cycling and a huge success for all parties.”
With the London 2012 games following less than a year after the race, it will be a chance for riders and spectators alike to experience a major international event before the Olympic race. With the World Championships following just a week after the Tour of Britain, race director Mick Bennett expects a great contest between the sprinters in London.
“As previous years have shown the circuit we are using is perfectly suited to the sprinters,” he said, “so I expect to see the stage again culminate in a bunch sprint. In previous years riders of the calibre of Mark Cavendish, Matt Goss and Andre Greipel have all won sprint stages, so I’m sure that 2011 will be no different.
“With the World Championships in Copenhagen just a week after The Tour of Britain, this will be a dress rehearsal for some of the world’s top sprinters to go head-to-head before the Worlds. The course in Denmark looks to be suited to the sprinters, so there is a very real chance that we could see a World Champion in waiting winning in London at The Tour of Britain.”
This year’s Tour of Britain will start in Scotland on September 11th, and finish a week later on the central London circuit.