Tour of Britain - 2009

NervexProf

Sounds exciting here: http://www.tourofbritain.co.uk/

12 - 19th September 2009

Final stage finishing in London.

Site welll worth a browse.

Meds1962

It will be interesting to see what the definition of Britain is next year.

GroupOfOne MkII

Meds1962 wrote:

It will be interesting to see what the definition of Britain is next year.

Presumably whichever bits stump up the cash, as in every other year!

hammerite

GroupOfOne MkII wrote:

Meds1962 wrote:

It will be interesting to see what the definition of Britain is next year.

Presumably whichever bits stump up the cash, as in every other year!

which I'm guessing won't be too disimilar regions to this year. I'm pretty sure I read that Somerset County Council (or the local development agency) had paid for a multi year agreement to host stages. I would expect a few of the other regions will have done the same.

Meds - might be worth putting pressure on your local devt agency if you would like your region (I presume Wales) to host a stage.

calvjones

hammerite wrote:

GroupOfOne MkII wrote:

Meds1962 wrote:

It will be interesting to see what the definition of Britain is next year.

Presumably whichever bits stump up the cash, as in every other year!

which I'm guessing won't be too disimilar regions to this year. I'm pretty sure I read that Somerset County Council (or the local development agency) had paid for a multi year agreement to host stages. I would expect a few of the other regions will have done the same.

Meds - might be worth putting pressure on your local devt agency if you would like your region (I presume Wales) to host a stage.

I suspect we'll have to wait until they've stopped wasting it on the Ryder Cup

woody-som

somerset council paid for a 5 year deal. I know chard hosted the start of the sw stage, but are working on trying to get a finish here. Local council are really into the whole cycling bug here, even supporting the local club, we had the mayor at the recent club AGM, and held it in the guildhall for the 1st time.

guv001

I know money is necessary to keep it running BUT I can't see why regions have to pay to have the race come to them, the race should be funded by the government so that all can enjoy it (over a number of years of course). I'm afirm believer that a tour of Britain at least has to visit all the countries of Britain regardless of who is paying.

GroupOfOne MkII

I suppose in a way the government is contributing, just via the regional councils, development agencies etc rather than the national government forking out directly.

iain_j

I'd love to see some proper mountain stages - there's plenty of places they could have some - Wales (north preferably so I could go and see them), the Lake District, some more in the Peak District. Scottish Highlands possibly.

hammerite

I agree that it would be good if the race could visit all five countries (who is the fifth? NI yes, but Ireland has it's own race a week or two before). However, in practice this isn't great. The teams and riders don't like long transfers between stages, so I think you'd end up having less of the top quality teams involved. Also, unless I'm mistaken at a certain UCI race level the race organisers also have to foot the bill for the teams travel and accommodation. I'm guessing the organisers don't fancy having to pay more out for flights/ferries to and from NI, than they already do.

Again the problem with having some tougher mountain stages are that our mountainous (ok hilly) regions tend not to have too many mountain passes, like you get on the continent. The infrastructure isn't great, so difficult to park for spectators, again unlike the continent where the mountain roads are generally pretty good and more used to heavy traffic.
The regional devt agencies want the opportunity for the stages to finish in a town, to highlight the features of that town, by having a hilltop finish on a stage, any decent hilltop finishes in Britain tend to be in the middle of nowhere, so not really massive areas to promote.
The race organisers want an exciting race, on a six-eight stage race if you end up with a big winner on a mountain stage they will generally win the whole race, where as this year coming into Liverpool there were quite a number of contenders.

shockedsoshocked

Just stick em up Rosedale Chimney after about 80 miles and i'm happy :twisted:

FJS

hammerite wrote:

Again the problem with having some tougher mountain stages are that our mountainous (ok hilly) regions tend not to have too many mountain passes, like you get on the continent. The infrastructure isn't great, so difficult to park for spectators, again unlike the continent where the mountain roads are generally pretty good and more used to heavy traffic.
The race organisers want an exciting race, on a six-eight stage race if you end up with a big winner on a mountain stage they will generally win the whole race, where as this year coming into Liverpool there were quite a number of contenders.

The Peak District has plenty of long, challenging climbs on wide enough roads.
Without mountains or a time trail you get an exciting race, but one where relative nobodies win, like the last couple of years. Good riders need challenging routes do be able to show what they can do.
Now a cynical view would be that the general British public doesn't distinguish the nobodies from the top riders. But if you only organize for your local home audience you will never attract a high profile field. Rabobank, Lotto, Cofidis or Lampre are not interested in being on ITV, they're interested in being in the highlights in their own markets, and as long as the Tour of Britain does not get high profile contenders for the win, foreign TV stations will not be interested, and the race will remain having a weak field.
Put a mountain stage and time trail at the end of the week, and you'll have an exciting race with a high profile winner.

GroupOfOne MkII

FJS wrote:

But if you only organize for your local home audience you will never attract a high profile field. Rabobank, Lotto, Cofidis or Lampre are not interested in being on ITV, they're interested in being in the highlights in their own markets, and as long as the Tour of Britain does not get high profile contenders for the win, foreign TV stations will not be interested, and the race will remain having a weak field.
Put a mountain stage and time trail at the end of the week, and you'll have an exciting race with a high profile winner.

That's quite interesting, as LPR generated a heck of a lot of coverage in Italy (Gazzetta, regional papers and Sky Sports 24) during the ToB this year thanks to the presence of Petacchi (in particular) and Di Luca.

I think it's a problem that a lot of people don't understand, that some of the big teams (Milram, Liquigas, Lampre etc) don't have an interest in competing in Britain as it isn't a market for them. Much like some of the French teams in the Giro. Interestingly though Agritubel love the ToB, but they don't sell their products in the UK, so must see some sort of benefit.

FJS

GroupOfOne MkII wrote:

That's quite interesting, as LPR generated a heck of a lot of coverage in Italy (Gazzetta, regional papers and Sky Sports 24) during the ToB this year thanks to the presence of Petacchi (in particular) and Di Luca.

sure, with Petacchi making his come-back that attracts attention in itself.
Teams ride outside of their markets all the time, but do appreciate getting some TV coverage while doing so.

Anonymous

Yup, It would be great to see a decent mountain stage , I think our tour is really pretty crap and I've very little interest in watching any of it....BUT if they ventured into serious terrain I'd be well interested...and it doesn't have to be big roads....the Giro goes over the Mortirolo and Gavia etc and they are tiny roads?...and the Zoncolan is also a very narrow passage....and thats a fair bigger logistical problem for that size of tour....

The Milk Race in years gone by stuffed them up Bwlch Y Groes, Rosedale Chimney, The Struggle, Devils Staircase etc....why not now?....
I'd love for a bit of flair in out Tour....and my dream would be to throw them over Hardknott and Wrynose.....and maybe fire them up the Bealach Na Ba...now we're talking

Meds1962

If the title "Tour of Britain" is supposed to be meaningful I think it should visit all the home nations otherwise it ought to be called Tour of something else.

It's a shame if it's just down to money, I don't know whether any areas in Wales have made bids to host stages?

Tom Butcher

The majority of the population of Britain live in England - so it makes sense the majority of the stages are going to be there.

From memory Scotland and Wales have both had a reasonable share of stages in the past - I'd quite like the race to visit the East Midlands every year. Jjust because it doesn't visit that part of Britain doesn't mean it shouldn't be called the Tour of Britain.

As for tougher stages - I assumed that the big name teams would be put off by a very hard race over terrain like Hardknott and Wrynose. Was watching a DVD of Elliott winning in the 80s - riders were walking on Rosedale Chimney and I'm sure they had 2 stages in one day - I can't see your Petacchi's and Boonen's really signing up for that.

shockedsoshocked

Tom Butcher wrote:

Was watching a DVD of Elliott winning in the 80s - riders were walking on Rosedale Chimney.

Was that the same Milk Race where (according to my dad) Kelly went up the Chimney in the saddle :shock:

DaveyL

Imagine if towns in France had to pay to host Tour stages. Er, wait a minute....

andyrac

calvjones wrote:

hammerite wrote:

GroupOfOne MkII wrote:

Meds1962 wrote:

It will be interesting to see what the definition of Britain is next year.

Presumably whichever bits stump up the cash, as in every other year!

which I'm guessing won't be too disimilar regions to this year. I'm pretty sure I read that Somerset County Council (or the local development agency) had paid for a multi year agreement to host stages. I would expect a few of the other regions will have done the same.

Meds - might be worth putting pressure on your local devt agency if you would like your region (I presume Wales) to host a stage.

I suspect we'll have to wait until they've stopped wasting it on the Ryder Cup

And Wales RallyGB!!

Meds1962

Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't recall any stages at all in Wales since it's re emergence as the Tour of 'Britain' in recent years. I think there was talk early on of expanding it once it's popularity got established but by all accounts it's more a matter of cash than trying to make it live up to the name.

jimmerslimmer

Meds1962 wrote:

Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't recall any stages at all in Wales since it's re emergence as the Tour of 'Britain' in recent years. I think there was talk early on of expanding it once it's popularity got established but by all accounts it's more a matter of cash than trying to make it live up to the name.

I think the first tour of the current incarnation of the ToB made a quick visit to Newport in 2004 but I think it would be stretching it to say that Wales has had its fair share of stages. I've moaned at Tony Doyle about this before but I'm not sure he's with the tour any more.

The ToB does need more variety but having ridden both I don't think that means Rosedale Chimney or the Devil's staircase as I think they're too steep for useful racing. However the nice wide 10% passes like the llanberis, Bethania, Crimea, Nant gwynant, nant ffrancon and smaller routes like Bwlch Y Groes and the Cwm machno road would I think make ideal racing. Jeeze even thinks like the Sychnant pass would make better KoM climbs than some of the rubbish.

What are the chances of Gwynedd or Conwy CC putting in bids for stages, I think we might need to do it for them ...

andyrac

I'm not one to bash people/ organisers, who I'm sure work hard, but it must be said the KOM Competition in particular, is a complete misnomer. There are surely enough challenging roads in Wales to pick, without being too challenging. And how about a ITT?

Anonymous

Yeah, the TOB should be a showcase of our whole Island..... Our most beautiful areas are most definately our Countryside and in particular the Mountain Regions....who wants to see big horrid run down Cities and vastly populated areas? And as for 'most people live in England then most stages should be there'...well, I don't agree with that at all.....North England, Wales and Northern Scotland are our treasures.....they are just so beautiful....the organisers should definately make a stage mandatory in those parts....they usually do one stage in Scotland...a stage through the Borders to Glasgow....although its nice down there its in no comparison to the North.....Why is Wales being systematically ignored?....its by the far the nicest Area south of Manchester in all the UK....and has very challenging terrain.....and I think we should include our steep hills....Boonen seems to cope just dandy on Flanders etc....and LBL and Wallone have steep gits aswell....and lets be honest...the UK doesnt do much lovely well graded roads up hills....what we do best is brutal roads which get to the top as soon as....and thats the true character of our Country!...why not showcase it?.....

P.S...I'd rather do Rosedale Chimney and the Devils Staircase than Bwlch Y Groes!

I say it again....throw the gits over Hardknott and Wrynose...

GroupOfOne MkII

RICHYBOYcp wrote:

Why is Wales being systematically ignored?....its by the far the nicest Area south of Manchester in all the UK.......

Erm Somerset, Devon and Cornwall say hello

Anonymous

GroupOfOne MkII wrote:

RICHYBOYcp wrote:

Why is Wales being systematically ignored?....its by the far the nicest Area south of Manchester in all the UK.......

Erm Somerset, Devon and Cornwall say hello

Not saying those Areas arent nice...just saying that Snowdonia and the likes are just so much more spectacular...nothing to beat big mountains and Lakes...

a_n_t

jimmerslimmer wrote:

Meds1962 wrote:

Jeeze even thinks like the Sychnant pass would make better KoM climbs than some of the rubbish.

didn't they use a flyover in the final stage this year? :roll:

jimmythecuckoo

I live on the edge of the fens so like Welsh fans I am expecting to have to travel miles to go and see it.

It's not just the other countries in GB that miss out you know!

iain_j

a_n_t wrote:

didn't they use a flyover in the final stage this year? :roll:

Yeah, Churchill Way in Liverpool city centre - I used to use it on my commute years ago, and even back then when I struggled on hills, this wasn't one of them :?

I know the ToB needs to visit places where it'll get the most exposure, but I'd still love to see a stage through Snowdonia or the Lakes. In fact they could easily take in Shap Fell couldn't they - it's been through Kendal before.

Was it in the Tour de France this year that David Millar made reference to the upcoming "Tour of England"? Can't blame him for his mistake

cougie

Every time the same complaints. They have done Wales - I remember them racing round that Golf Resort down in South Wales ?

As others have said - they go where the money is. Its not a charity - these things cost - so they have to link up their 'sponsors' as best they can. I thought we had some great stages last year - it was really getting exciting - despite the dodgy editing of the coverage. After a shaky start - its a decent race now.

That Bosun Haagen Daaaaaz chap looks like a hot tip for the future - how fast was he ?

It would be good if they do an 'etape' like stage one year - they did have a manchester stage like that once and it was quite fun - but you need a circular route for best effect.

Anonymous

cougie wrote:

Every time the same complaints. They have done Wales - I remember them racing round that Golf Resort down in South Wales ?

As others have said - they go where the money is. Its not a charity - these things cost - so they have to link up their 'sponsors' as best they can.
quote]

Ok they go where the money is...that's not a Tour of Britain, thats a tour of finance...and maybe thats why the race is so unnattractive as it can't be a true showcase of the UK, its as much about generating enough cash to run the thing?......Golf course....maybe they should hold all stages in Scotland and Wales....then hold one stage round a Golf Course in England? Can't see the English being happy about that!....so why would the Welsh be happy with that? And I personally cannot remember any stages in Wales over the last 3 years or so....and out of all Wales do you really think a Golf Course is a true showcase for such a beautiful area? Not going on anymore about it...said enough....I'll vote with my feet and not give it the time of day?.....