Tour of Britain - 2009

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Comments

  • at the risk of sounding boring. Don't make this about country's in the UK never seeing the race. Plenty of parts of England dont see it too.
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    What a load of twaddle - and stomping off cos it didnt come near you.

    Have you not noticed that the Tour de France doesnt get round the entire country each year ? Are you blacklisting that too cos it didnt take in some big stretches ?

    They only have a week - they tried to get longer - but the UCI wouldnt let them. I'm sure that given unlimited resource and full cooperation from all of the councils - they'd love to take the tour all over - but Britain is pretty big for a small stage race.

    If you want to - try organising a tour of britain that keeps everyone happy. Try and get sponsors and towns willing to shut down their roads for you. Try and get the UCI to give you the 14 days or whatever you need to get round everywhere.

    The Tour of Britain is what it is - it cant promise to get everywhere - but it gives a taste of Britain. Hmmm - maybe we should get Judith Chalmers to plan the route ?
  • Meds1962
    Meds1962 Posts: 391
    The point is that Wales is a country in Britain where no stages are held.

    "Parts of England" are parts of a country in which 90% + of the stages are held.

    If it's going to be called Tour of Britain then It should go to Wales, Scotland, N. Ireland as well as England.

    England will always get the lion's share and within England it should go to all the regions (not in the same year). A single stage each year alternating between North, Mid, and South Wales would be a 100% improvement on the current situation.

    You can't please everyone but you can at least make an effort to spread it around evenly and give everyone a go otherwise why is it called the Tour of Britain?
    O na bawn i fel LA
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    Wales got a stage in 2004 - Celtic Manor I think ? Sure it would be great to see them hitting some of the great climbs in Wales again - but the sponsors have to be there.

    So maybe instead of knocking the Tour - what about petitioning your local tourist boards or development agencies to convince them that a tour stage generates XX revenue and so many inches of print - plus TV coverage.

    Its called The Tour of Britain because thats the most recogniseable name for the sport to know it by.

    Call it 'The Tour of England and occasionally we get to other parts of the Country' and you wont get very far. Plus the jerseys would need to be massive to fit all the writing on.
  • cougie wrote:
    What a load of twaddle - and stomping off cos it didnt come near you.

    Have you not noticed that the Tour de France doesnt get round the entire country each year ? Are you blacklisting that too cos it didnt take in some big stretches ?

    They only have a week - they tried to get longer - but the UCI wouldnt let them. I'm sure that given unlimited resource and full cooperation from all of the councils - they'd love to take the tour all over - but Britain is pretty big for a small stage race.

    If you want to - try organising a tour of britain that keeps everyone happy. Try and get sponsors and towns willing to shut down their roads for you. Try and get the UCI to give you the 14 days or whatever you need to get round everywhere.

    The Tour of Britain is what it is - it cant promise to get everywhere - but it gives a taste of Britain. Hmmm - maybe we should get Judith Chalmers to plan the route ?

    Well said
  • Squaggles
    Squaggles Posts: 875
    Are you seriously suggesting that the Tour of Britain has to pass through England , Scotland and Wales EVERY year in order for it to be called the Tour of Britain ? In a week ?
    Just checking because that sounds like what you are asking for .
    The UCI are Clowns and Fools
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    This year's Tour de France should be called the "Tour of a small bit of France taking in a brief sojourn to Spain, Switzerland, Monaco, Andorra and not forgetting a little hello to Italy'...

    I would love one of the ToB stages to be the same route as one of the big cyclosportives such as the Fred Whitton Challenge or the Dragon Ride etc, so we can compare how the pros do...
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    Napoleon - you probably wouldnt want the comparison....

    I did see a race on TV - not so long ago - TOB or Prutour or something - and they were climbing the horseshoe pass - a climb I know well.

    Except you couldnt recognise it as all the pros were in the saddle as if it were a flat stage - not in bottom gear and struggling to turn the pedals over. :oops:
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    Napoleon - you probably wouldnt want the comparison....

    I did see a race on TV - not so long ago - TOB or Prutour or something - and they were climbing the horseshoe pass - a climb I know well.

    Except you couldnt recognise it as all the pros were in the saddle as if it were a flat stage - not in bottom gear and struggling to turn the pedals over. :oops:
  • Steve Tcp
    Steve Tcp Posts: 7,350
    Well it might be my memory but when the TOB first kicked off again in 2004 (I think) this thing about not visiting Wales was one of the big negative arguments then. However, I'm sure at the time there was some degree of opposition to the TOB by the likes of Welsh Cycling who felt it might undermine their own events for some reason. When I get chance I'll try and find some of the articles to that effect, but it may be relevant to note that in England, Ireland and Scotland we are governed by British Cycling, whereas in Wales there is Welsh Cycling. So what's that all about - can we assume that in cycling terms Wales is Welsh not British? Certainly makes me think that there is a bit of political stuff going on that keeps the TOB away from areas like Snowdonia.

    As for the TOB being rubbish, I can't agree. This year it actually passed my son's school and we had all of the children out to watch the race go by and they were really excited by the whole thing, even though they'd had to wait around for half an hour or more before the riders flashed through. Since then we've had a BC Go Ride taster day and there's evidence of an increasing interest in the sport amongst both the children and their parents. So on that level alone it's a great event, without mentioning seeing Pettachi, DiLuca, Miller et al pass by in my local area.
    Take care,

    Steve.
  • eh
    eh Posts: 4,854
    There have been plenty of decent road race events held in S. Wales over the past years, 2 National Championships, 2 TOB stages, 1 female World Cup. Compare that to Scotland or some parts of England and S. Wales has held quite a few decent races. Fair play the N. Wales contingent might have cause for complaint but then I'm sure there have been TOB stages in Liverpool and Manchester.