Considering how beautiful our country is, I wouldn’t have thought that coverage of the Tour would make it look so bleak in comparison to Italy, France, or Spain.

I realise it could be in part due to the quality of the broadcast itself, but it also looks like the planners have not exactly chosen the most beautiful spots for stages.

So is it me, or is the Tour of Britain unexpectedly underwhelming scenery-wise?

I don’t think the quality of light in sept shows it Best. Certainly these first 2 days. That said much of Britain is nice enough but not wow amazing. It still looks a lot better than the spring classics.

Oh, I agree with you there, Drac. I think what I am getting at is probably close to what eddie11 said, above. The light has something to do with it.

Bamburgh is amazing!

Grey skies make it look very bleak. Still though, every town they enter looks like a right shithole… Patchwork roads. Building sites. Ropey looking houses… Maybe we just have to accept we’re not the easiest on the eye?

Very odd parcours, very very flat, one of today’s kom points was over a motorway flyover 😕

I’m a Scunthorpe resident, was nice to have it roll though, kids loved it, some serious money must have changed hands for the hosting – the roll out to Alkborough for km 0 is a filthy farm road, looked horrendous this morning, minging before 175km of riding

Onwards and “upwards” Newark on Trent tomorrow 😆

Past our street tomorrow and through Sherwood / Clumber.

Will go out with the camera. Light could be better tomorrow.

Depends where it it. The Tour looked splendid in Swaledale. But then it would.

It doesn’t help when the racing is absolutely dross. It’s been a long while since I’ve been so unexcited by a road race. What were the organisers thinking?

The Tour looked splendid in Swaledale. But then it would.

You are right, of course, but there are plenty of beautiful places in the UK that they could ride through. (Dartmoor, huge parts of Wales, Scotland, Yorkshire, etc) but we get miles of hedge-lined roads and the Humber. Did anyone ever describe Scunthorpe as scenic?

Very odd parcours, very very flat, one of today’s kom points was over a motorway flyover

I was planning on finding a hill to watch the final stage, something that would separate and slow the field. But no, the big climb is the Celtic Manor Hotel in Newport (even more dismal than Scunthorpe.) It’s a little lump. Can I be bothered to drive 50 miles or more to watch a bunch fly by on the way to another sprint?

Still though, every town they enter looks like a right shithole…

TT to look forward to in Clacton on Thursday…. 😀

Yeah the grey skies didn’t help, there’s better pictures and videos out there then the ones I quickly grabbed.

Still though, every town they enter looks like a right shithole… Patchwork roads. Building sites. Ropey looking houses… Maybe we just have to accept we’re not the easiest on the eye?

You must of watched a different tour.

There is a proper hill on the final stage, properly steep too, enough to cause splits and only 10 miles from here. The trouble is it’s also only 15 miles from the start so might be a factor for breakaways forming, but the main field won’t be giving it gas (and for some reason gets the same category as the bump near the finish, though there doesn’t appear to be anything more than a cat 2 on this year’s race).

rone – Member
Past our street tomorrow and through Sherwood / Clumber.

Will go out with the camera

And spectacular climb of Kilton Hill…

*not spectacular….

One of the reasons that ToB has become so much bigger recently and why so many big names come to ride it is that the organaisers have made the conscious decision to model the route along similar lines to that years World Champs course. It then becomes the perfect ‘tune up’ race before the WC as it’s not the Vuelta which is usually so hard that it drains the legs too much..

Doesn’t always make for the most interesting race to watch though, but the riders like it which means a lot of the ‘fans’ that come to see their heroes rather than see a good race, get what they want too..

I thought about going over to my home village of Harworth tomorrow to see the race past the Tom Simpson memorial. But no, it would take more than that to tempt me back.

Despite the rain I thought it looked good today. Miserable sods will be miserable.

Dull course = dull race.
KOM’s on small rises is pathetic.

I’m a big fan of this race and I went to Kelso for the finish but this years edition is boring.

Day 1 – bunch sprint, Day 2 – bunch sprint, Day 3……..

I don’t know the areas well enough to know if it’s going to get any more exciting in the next stages.

Watched it cone through Seahouses yesterday. Couldn’t believe the number of support motorbikes, police bikes, support cars etc.

Probably not the most exciting spot to watch it but the pints of Directors after made up for the few seconds of racing!

Passes through the ‘village’ this morning (Watnall), look out for the idiot with the cowbell and the orange sweatshirt 🙂 Pub after!

Needs a Haytor finish. And some better weather. The closed roads makes for some interesting parcours. Loopy!

Looking at the profiles it seems unlikely – with a bit of luck stage 5 might not be a bunch finish though.

I can’t figure out how they block every street off? Or do they?

the organaisers have made the conscious decision to model the route along similar lines to that years World Champs course

this makes a lot of sense.
so far I’ve recorded the highlights and fast forwarded to the last 3km. watching Vuelta and ToB highlights back to back makes the ToB look dire.
last year was a lot better, or was that the Tour of Yorkshire?

I can’t figure out how they block every street off? Or do they?

They don’t block every street they pass off, at the finish the last Km or so will be barriered off but on route the police motorbikes work on a system where they stop at major junctions, stop the traffic, then the next motorbike comes along, first one moves off and so on.

Minor side roads are not covered. Guess they presume motorists will see all the police passing and stay were they are. There is a police X5 immedialy in front of the peloton.

Thanks for that. That’s exactly what happened when the entourage passed.

That wasn’t a great place to park!

That wasn’t a great place to park!

I missed watching yesterday, so missed this. Holy ….!

I want to think the best of the ToB, but the parked car incident… couldn’t that have been avoided?!? Has such a thing happened on any other major tour? (Not counting the crashes with vehicles, etc., actually involved in the said tour.)

couldn’t that have been avoided?!?

Yes, by riders paying attention. There was a day-glo whistle blowing marshal there.

Obviously in an ideal world, the car shouldn’t have been there, or you’d have some cones to deploy on the day to keep the peleton entirely in the other lane all the way around the corner.

Has such a thing happened on any other major tour?

Yes, all the time, although usually static objects like bollards that should have been removed but weren’t.

For Example:

Vuelta a España organisers apologise for bollard that caused Kruijswijk injury

There was an incident a few years ago in Ambleside. Some old duffer decided that they’d ignore the policeman stood in the road and drove straight towards the peloton!

Yes, by riders paying attention.

Really? They’re racing. I would have thought the intensity would have mitigated the expectation that there might be a car around the corner. On a race course.

I don’t recall seeing cars randomly parked at the side of the track at any Monaco F1 races, but I’ll have to keep my eyes open for them next time.

They’re racing

The guys that crashed weren’t racing, they were having a snooze being sucked along waiting to race a bit later.

Yes but it is still unacceptable IMO to leave parked cars on the exit of a corner, why weren’t they moved? Putting a marshal in the way doesn’t mitigate the risk, if anything it puts the marshal at risk. Very poor risk management by the organisation IMO.

A roadside deBAAAAcle! 🐑

Great shots of #OVOToB today from @itvcycling! #baaaaarilliant #WoolyGood #SheepPunpic.twitter.com/Dg5xopMIPx

— Tour of Britain (@TourofBritain) September 6, 2017

Good effort

Quality of light? Have you seen how these cyclists dress?

IMO they should hold these things in the dark. Less road closures to piss off locals just trying to go about their daily lives too.

Same with Marathons.

TT shook things up a bit today, and actually quite enjoyed watching it.
Road surfaces though – wtf! A couple of mine shafts with yellow paint round them…..

James Gullen who did a sub seventeen minute 10 the other week, and seems to win all the local TTs he enters by about two minutes, finished about fifty seconds down on the winner. Certainly shows you how good they are!

It says something when a TT in Clacton is the highlight so far.

And I’m really struggling with that berk of a presenter.

Have they made the course so flat to attract all the sprinters who swerved the vuelta? The finishes have been good at least.

Road surfaces though – wtf!

You don’t live in Britain then…?