TOB really just a tour of the West coast
Is anyone else confused by the routing of the ToB for the past few years? It seems to have a West coast bias and surely as the Tour of Britain it should be spread around a bit more. For example the last time it was in the North East was 2009.
As a cycling fan living in the North East I'm a bit frustrated that they seem to be ignoring such a large part of the country.
As a cycling fan living in the North East I'm a bit frustrated that they seem to be ignoring such a large part of the country.
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Devon have always been supportive and have quite a lot of expertise so it tends to go around dartmoor most years0
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As Rich says, it's entirely down to who is prepared to stump up the cash to host a stage, and it runs well into 6 figures. Somerset CC pulled out due to the cost, so it's down to the budgetary priorities of the councils unfortunately.0
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No JTL in the Sky team. Anyone know what he is doing? Is he ill or injured?0
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Yawn. Every year there's a moan that the race doesn't go past someone's front door. It's only just over a week in length so on top of it depending on who wants to stump up the cash to host a stage there's a limit on how much country it can cover. There was a Surrey stage last year and Norfolk stages for a couple of years which by my compass aren't on the west coast and Stoke is a regular stage which is pretty much bang in the centre. A few years ago people moaned that it didn't go far enough north.0
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Primus84 wrote:Is anyone else confused by the routing of the ToB for the past few years? It seems to have a West coast bias and surely as the Tour of Britain it should be spread around a bit more. For example the last time it was in the North East was 2009.
As a cycling fan living in the North East I'm a bit frustrated that they seem to be ignoring such a large part of the country.
hard lines.
hard lines.
too much fog.0 -
mike6 wrote:No JTL in the Sky team. Anyone know what he is doing? Is he ill or injured?
Yeah, he's doing the GP de Quebec along with Ian Boswell, Joe Dombrowski, Chris Froome, Danny Pate, Richie Porte, Gabriel Rasch and Geraint Thomas.0 -
RideOnTime wrote:Primus84 wrote:Is anyone else confused by the routing of the ToB for the past few years? It seems to have a West coast bias and surely as the Tour of Britain it should be spread around a bit more. For example the last time it was in the North East was 2009.
As a cycling fan living in the North East I'm a bit frustrated that they seem to be ignoring such a large part of the country.
hard lines.
hard lines.
too much fog.
There's also too much danger of seeing girls on the walk of shame still wearing last night's miniskirt. Not good for tourism.0 -
mike6 wrote:No JTL in the Sky team. Anyone know what he is doing? Is he ill or injured?
Was originally down to do the Vuelta. Supposedly he and the Sky coaches agreed to pull it from his race schedule, he said he was tired, had no form, didnt want to ride the Vuelta only to be DNF etc. He went off to have a long break. Now he's back, its just 1 dayers for him for the next few weeks. They're sending him to Canada for the Quebec and Montreal 1 dayers, probably see whether he's going to be able to contribute enough to make the Worlds selection.0 -
Who cares. My dick is fatter than the UK. I apologize. Et cetera.1968, human content on bitumen.0
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Outsider art by Loan wrote:Who cares. My dick is fatter than the UK. I apologize. Et cetera.
erm...0 -
Joelsim wrote:RideOnTime wrote:Primus84 wrote:Is anyone else confused by the routing of the ToB for the past few years? It seems to have a West coast bias and surely as the Tour of Britain it should be spread around a bit more. For example the last time it was in the North East was 2009.
As a cycling fan living in the North East I'm a bit frustrated that they seem to be ignoring such a large part of the country.
hard lines.
hard lines.
too much fog.
There's also too much danger of seeing girls on the walk of shame still wearing last night's miniskirt. Not good for tourism.
well a debatable point there...0 -
Pross wrote:Yawn. Every year there's a moan that the race doesn't go past someone's front door. It's only just over a week in length so on top of it depending on who wants to stump up the cash to host a stage there's a limit on how much country it can cover. There was a Surrey stage last year and Norfolk stages for a couple of years which by my compass aren't on the west coast and Stoke is a regular stage which is pretty much bang in the centre. A few years ago people moaned that it didn't go far enough north.
I think that's harsh, I'm not wanting it going past my front door but living in the NE it's a fair distance to travel to see any of the race. I'm also not expecting it every year but not to have it nearby since 2009 is pretty poor.
I wasn't aware of the issues with councils etc. - perhaps if the organisers were interested in spreading the tour more widely across the country they could make these issues clear and councils might find that residents are in favour of hosting it.
But just look at this year's map, it's all West coast and London!0 -
Pross wrote:Yawn. Every year there's a moan that the race doesn't go past someone's front door. It's only just over a week in length so on top of it depending on who wants to stump up the cash to host a stage there's a limit on how much country it can cover. There was a Surrey stage last year and Norfolk stages for a couple of years which by my compass aren't on the west coast and Stoke is a regular stage which is pretty much bang in the centre. A few years ago people moaned that it didn't go far enough north.
I think that's harsh, I'm not wanting it going past my front door but living in the NE it's a fair distance to travel to see any of the race. I'm also not expecting it every year but not to have it nearby since 2009 is pretty poor.
I wasn't aware of the issues with councils etc. - perhaps if the organisers were interested in spreading the tour more widely across the country they could make these issues clear and councils might find that residents are in favour of hosting it.
But just look at this year's map, it's all West coast and London!0 -
Primus84 wrote:Pross wrote:Yawn. Every year there's a moan that the race doesn't go past someone's front door. It's only just over a week in length so on top of it depending on who wants to stump up the cash to host a stage there's a limit on how much country it can cover. There was a Surrey stage last year and Norfolk stages for a couple of years which by my compass aren't on the west coast and Stoke is a regular stage which is pretty much bang in the centre. A few years ago people moaned that it didn't go far enough north.
I think that's harsh, I'm not wanting it going past my front door but living in the NE it's a fair distance to travel to see any of the race. I'm also not expecting it every year but not to have it nearby since 2009 is pretty poor.
I wasn't aware of the issues with councils etc. - perhaps if the organisers were interested in spreading the tour more widely across the country they could make these issues clear and councils might find that residents are in favour of hosting it.
But just look at this year's map, it's all West coast and London!
It doesn't go past my door.
MOAN.
I'm just sayin'0 -
The Scottish stage isn't west coast (not the start anyway). And that's not too far from the NE.More problems but still living....0
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amaferanga wrote:The Scottish stage isn't west coast (not the start anyway). And that's not too far from the NE.
Yes, but,
It doesn't go past my door.
MOAN.
I'm just sayin'0 -
To be fair it covers a lot of ground in 8 days and has a transfer to the start of the next stage every day.
I can't see it taking any more than a couple of hours to get to see the race from anywhere on the island.“New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!0 -
RideOnTime wrote:Primus84 wrote:Pross wrote:Yawn. Every year there's a moan that the race doesn't go past someone's front door. It's only just over a week in length so on top of it depending on who wants to stump up the cash to host a stage there's a limit on how much country it can cover. There was a Surrey stage last year and Norfolk stages for a couple of years which by my compass aren't on the west coast and Stoke is a regular stage which is pretty much bang in the centre. A few years ago people moaned that it didn't go far enough north.
I think that's harsh, I'm not wanting it going past my front door but living in the NE it's a fair distance to travel to see any of the race. I'm also not expecting it every year but not to have it nearby since 2009 is pretty poor.
I wasn't aware of the issues with councils etc. - perhaps if the organisers were interested in spreading the tour more widely across the country they could make these issues clear and councils might find that residents are in favour of hosting it.
But just look at this year's map, it's all West coast and London!
It doesn't go past my door.
MOAN.
I'm just sayin'
Wow, I'll not bother posting in the future! It was an honest question and for some reason I've ended up with several posts accusing me of moaning or whinging.
What a lovely lot the inhabitants of the Pro Racing forum are!0 -
It's only a bit of banter0
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If that's the case then smilies, emoticons etc. would have made that clear. As a relatively new user of the forum it's really put me off.0
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I think you need to change that to read "any more than 3 hours, and provided the roads are clear". And this required time wouldn't apply to those who live anywhere farther north than about Dundee.TailWindHome wrote:I can't see it taking any more than a couple of hours to get to see the race from anywhere on the island.
It also wouldn't include finding somewhere to park and then actually getting to the side of the route.
On the other hand, even with its regular weighting to the west side of Britain, with its slight variations from year to year (recently East Anglia, 4-5 years ago the Peak District and Yorkshire-Durham), getting to see the TOB without too much travel does at least come around now and again.
France and Spain are bigger countries and some parts of both are farther away from anywhere where the Tour and Vuelta normally go, and for people who live in those parts, being able to see a stage live once in 5 years, even with 4 hours travel time, would be hard.0 -
The route is the route. Different every year, well apart from London. I would presume, like the Tour, that towns put up cash to be start/finish venues. A stage, a few years ago, passed 3 miles from my house in Northumberland and finished on Gateshead quayside so we cant really complain.0
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I live in the borders and often race in the NE rather than Scotland 'cos its closer, Selkirk is 75 miles from Newcastle, Hawick aboot the same, so dead Stage 1 really easy to get to from the NE.‘There is No Try. There is only Do. Or do not.’0
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Oh and our council really promote cycling up here - generally badly, but at least they try.‘There is No Try. There is only Do. Or do not.’0
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So from the map it's all west coast except stages 1, 7 and 8
In the last 5 years I'd say they've been within 100 miles of most of the country with the exception of the north of Scotland. As long as there's a decent climb to watch on I'd be happy travelling that distance. There's large parts of France that never get included on the Tour and if you want to attract a good field you can't have long transfers every day.0 -
Last year it came pretty close to my house (Suffolk), this year I have to get to London, swings and roundabouts I suppose.0
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Paul 8v wrote:Last year it came pretty close to my house (Suffolk), this year I have to get to London, swings and roundabouts I suppose.
Yeah can't complain, we've had three consecutive stages in Norfolk, viewed by thousands it has to be said. Far more than turned out to watch it in London.Specialized Venge S Works
Cannondale Synapse
Enigma Etape
Genesis Flyer Single Speed
Turn the corner, rub my eyes and hope the world will last...0 -
What irritates me is the London bit for everything. Plenty of good riding to be had in the country and they end up with a tedious flat stage. Why not 150 miles around the Peak district and end in Manchester?
Ah yes. Cash. Fair enough I suppose.0 -
mattsccm wrote:What irritates me is the London bit for everything. Plenty of good riding to be had in the country and they end up with a tedious flat stage. Why not 150 miles around the Peak district and end in Manchester?
Ah yes. Cash. Fair enough I suppose.
And Londoners are used to central London being closed off for sporting events. And the landmarks like the Eye, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Buck Palace etc looking stunning as backdrops onthe telly - and that sells well to oversees viewers.0
