2008 Tour of Britain

bucketbanger

Was just wondering if anyone can shed any light on this years race. All that the TOB website says is that its 8 days long from September 7 - 14 and finishes in Liverpool.

Any rumors on a possible route for this years race ?

takethehighroad

I don't know anything about the route, but I was surprised to see it's only rated 2.3 by the UCI?!?! Now I know it doesn't have the most stellar of line ups, but it always attracts a few ProTour teams, and Messrs Boonen and Pozzatto graced it once upon a time.

Kléber

It's a shame because the UK is a massive country, a huge market for many Pro Tour teams. Poland for example, has a Pro Tour event but it only has 40 million people, compared to 60 million in the UK and the UK is far richer, so far more willing to buy Quick Step flooring, Silence anti-snoring products or Saunier Duval boilers.

But the UK event doesn't do itself any favours. It doesn't even get closed roads, riders have to duck and weave the oncoming traffic, separated only by traffic cones. Boonen tried the race but decided that no matter how much laminated flooring he could sell to the British, it wasn't worth risking his life for. In past years, riders have been taken off course by errant motorcycle outriders.

DaveyL

Riders in Belgium have been known to crash into parked cars on the course, which shouldn't be there. And has the Tour of Benelux gone smoothly these last few years? The UK doesn't have a monopoly on screwing up race organisation and endangering riders.

Noodley

DaveyL wrote:

The UK doesn't have a monopoly on screwing up race organisation and endangering riders.

True. Didn't Pantani come a (serious) cropper during a race in Italy when cars were allowed onto the route?

timoid.

Noodley wrote:

DaveyL wrote:

The UK doesn't have a monopoly on screwing up race organisation and endangering riders.

True. Didn't Pantani come a (serious) cropper during a race in Italy when cars were allowed onto the route?

I think that was a training ride.

vermooten

I'd rather break my collarbone in a Belgian race than in a UK race.

Kléber

Pantani's accident happened when cars were mistakenly allowed onto the course. And it is common to see parked cars on the route in smaller Belgian races, even in Gent-Wevelgem for example. So you get mistakes and parked cars. But the Tour of Britain had a few plastic cones to seperate the bunch from oncoming traffic, so no mistake but deliberate oncoming traffic, and this was as the race approached the finish line, the riders didn't have the whole road for the race, just one lane.

afx237vi

TakeTheHighRoad wrote:

I don't know anything about the route, but I was surprised to see it's only rated 2.3 by the UCI?!?! Now I know it doesn't have the most stellar of line ups, but it always attracts a few ProTour teams, and Messrs Boonen and Pozzatto graced it once upon a time.

2.3 must be a typo. That ranking doesn't even exist anymore... the lowest is 2.2.

But yeah, you can argue that certain races in Belgium or Italy have had the odd problem, but the fact is that the Tour of Britain has had serious safety issues EVERY YEAR since its reincarnation. That doesn't help in attracting big teams, and it was noticeable that last year's edition had a very weak field compared to the first one.

hammerite

Kléber wrote:

It's a shame because the UK is a massive country, a huge market for many Pro Tour teams. Poland for example, has a Pro Tour event but it only has 40 million people, compared to 60 million in the UK and the UK is far richer, so far more willing to buy Quick Step flooring, Silence anti-snoring products or Saunier Duval boilers.

Whilst the potential market must be quite large, how many of the product sponsors are actually big players in the UK market. Saunier Duval come well below those of Baxi, Vaillant etc..... Unfortuantely a lot of the product team sponsors are big in their native country and surrounding areas but not in the UK, and it would take more than a cycling race to increase their market share over here.

BrianS

i support the tour of britain.

i was involved with a car incident in the tour of britain which hindered my career.

i hate the way car drivers disregard the cyclists in our country.

the more the public get used to cycle racing in our country the better is our future.

i am british and twice british champion and love to see world cyclists racing on our roads.

support britain........support the Tour of Britain.

the more people at the side of the roads keep the sponsors happy....we always need more money in british cycling.

jimmerslimmer

Brian,

I support the ToB but it also needs to help its self - its had more than it fair share of farces in recent years due to poor planning and organisation - I appreciate that this isn't unique to the UK but we do seem to be developing a reputation for consistent cock ups.

Year on year the tour's promotion isn't outstanding either - as demonstrated by the lack of uptodate information on the website. Some of the elite road races generate more hype.

I accept that cyclist ought to advocate and evangelise about the sport,and some of the recent issues, spats and events have done a lot to damage our sport but telling people to support the tour of britian is a bit like ordering people to have fun... they just ask why?

I think ASO illustrated in London last year that the UK general public will come to watch bike racing if there is enough of a spectical and a strong sense of a occasion. We should be looking to the likes of ASO and the AMGEN Tour of California to see what can be achieved in a relatively short period of time.

It's also not much of a tour of britain - rarely visiting some parts of the UK - I appreciate that this is often down to the participation or lack thereof by many local authorities.

The issue of road closures and motor cycle escorts needs ot be resolved ASAP especially following the cancellation of the Archer GP and Tour of Wessex - the latter in particular looked like it was going to be a real success.

Jimmer

Kléber

Legislation is in place for road closures, the police can do the job. I'll support a good race anytime. The Tour de France showed what can be done, and the British public flocked to the event. To give people outside London and Kent a taste of this would be great.

It just seemed the Tour of Britain didn't get the race organisation right, nor did it get TV exposure. Teams will come not for the racing, but via TV broadcasts they can reach a much bigger audience and the coverage in the UK was small.

Sadly it seems cycling in Britain means the circus entertainment of track cycling, British Cycling, the governing body, is heavily reliant on Lottery Funding, which in turn is linked to the delivery of Olympic medals. Fair play to them for ensuring a haul of medals but if cycling as a whole is a minority sport in Britain, track racing is an ultra-minority activity.

GroupOfOne MkII

It's a 2.1 category (just like Tour of the Med, Vuelta a Castilla y Leon etc). I also think this year it'll be the longest 2.1 category race, so the UCI must be happy with it otherwise they wouldn't sanction an extra day.

Plus as Kleber says it's the one opportunity a year to bring something akin to the Tours Gran Depart in London to the rest of the country and show people how great cycling is. Regardless of any politics or thoughts about the organisers abilities, I think it's imperative to have a some sort of continental style event to get the general public used to road racing, and to show that our successful trackies don't just spend the whole time going round and round in circles!

As for the safety issues last year, didn't some of the riders say that during the neutralisation they felt safeist Aside from that there weren't any of the problems experienced in previous years and other people said, races on the continent do occassionally get it wrong too! So hopefully an incident free 2008 will allow us to begin to forget about any problems in past years.

Not sure if the field really was weaker last year, aside from the GB team there were no national teams like in previous year which surely shows a stronger race. Plus the race was a lot closer without the 'small break on the first stage' deciding things as in other years. I suppose though you get the conundrum that 'smaller' names may make for an exciting race, but it's the 'bigger' names which draw the crowds :? Also don't forget Cancellara very nearly rode last year and only didn't because of last minute injuries to CSC squads elsewhere. If he'd ridden and made up for the lack of a 'Boonen' would we then say the field was good?

Definitely think with the demise (for this year at least of the Archer & Wessex) we should be really encouraging any large scale cycling event, particularly as it could make for a nice 'parade' for our victorious Olympians. Remember back in 2004 Wiggins riding with CA after winning gold in Athens and all the publicity that brought, so hopefully this year we could see Wiggins, Newton, Cav etc all riding The ToB after success in Beijing.

redddraggon

hammerite wrote:

Kléber wrote:

It's a shame because the UK is a massive country, a huge market for many Pro Tour teams. Poland for example, has a Pro Tour event but it only has 40 million people, compared to 60 million in the UK and the UK is far richer, so far more willing to buy Quick Step flooring, Silence anti-snoring products or Saunier Duval boilers.

Whilst the potential market must be quite large, how many of the product sponsors are actually big players in the UK market. Saunier Duval come well below those of Baxi, Vaillant etc..... Unfortuantely a lot of the product team sponsors are big in their native country and surrounding areas but not in the UK, and it would take more than a cycling race to increase their market share over here.

Well there's a ProTour race in Australia, and I reckon the team's sponsors would be more bothered about publicity in the UK (closer to their native market) rather than there.