Is there a Tour of Britain thread yet?

If so, close this one! Summit finish at Hartside on stage 5 should be a cracker, will need to check I’m off work……

Better than that they found a place called Northumberland.

Oooft didn’t realise there was a summit finish on Hartside, had heard there was 2 days in Cumbria though! Def need to get the time off work this year.

It seems to be working on the assumption that Ovingham bridge will be finished by september – that stage looks fantastic though.

edit: actually, all those stages look great.

Good route this year.

They will always get some people’s back up by not going everywhere but the organisers, I feel, do really well getting round in the short space of time they have.

They seem to try to get various places over the space of a few years.

Is the Hartside summit that one with the Cafe on top ?

Let’s hope there’s not a power cut on Hartside 😉

I wonder if this is why the badger’s been getting some TLC lately.

It looks like they cross the river at Hexham rather than Ovingham. Then a wiggle up to the military road – wonder if that’s the Vags hill climb. That’ll fettle the Strava segment 🙂

Redheughs Rigg = nae luck. I know where I’ll be watching that stage. 😀

Looks a good route. Hartside has got to a good finish.

Ribble & Bowland stage looks promising.

Is there a detailed route map anywhere?

At this point there is normally just an overview map of the stages.

In the past, I’ve roughly worked out the roads using a map and the towns / villages visited.

The Race Manual with detailed route, feed stops etc is usually out about 3 weeks before the race on the ToB website.

I’ve been having a look at it here –

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/racing/tour-of-britain/tour-of-britain-2015-stage-by-stage-162382

Can’t wait for stage 5. Wondering about watching them through Hexham, then riding the direct route to Hartside to see them finish. Might be a safer bet to drive to Alston though and ride up…

Hope I have some time off work left. Could easily ride up to watch the finish in Blyth and it might be possible to see them off in Prudhoe then ride to Hartside.

I’d be interested to see how fast they can get up Hartside. As a gentle gradient it might still be a sprint finish rather than a hill finish.

Looks good to me!

Looks like they’re avoiding the shires after spoiling me last year by finishing just down the road and going right past my parent’s place, great day out that was.

That said the 2015 course looks like a cracker of a route, hopefully a few teams will bring their big hitters and we’ll see some good racing.

Hmmm, the Ribble stage map is a bit awkward to work out compared to the A to B ones.

Could they be going over Whalley Nab as they head out on the final bit?

Definitely heading to that one with the family. Mulling a ride up Helvellyn combined with spectating as they through that way too.

It’s a great route cos it goes past my house. 🙂 hartside cafe better be getting sausage rolls in.

Looks like a decent route, very northern though!

I’d be interested to see how fast they can get up Hartside. As a gentle gradient it might still be a sprint finish rather than a hill finish.

There’s a couple of Strava segments on there, local club runs a hill climb and a longer round loop TT using Melmerby-Hartside. I imagine it’ll be a teeny bit faster than that maybe. Top half is shallow enough that you’ll get a good bit of benefit from drafting, wind can be evil on what will be the finishing straight too, should be a bloody good stage!

Looks like a decent route, very northern though!

Last years was very Southern so suck it up 😛

Looks like a decent route, very northern though!

A good excuse to come and see some proper hills.

Three stages in the north, one in the middle and four in the south….
They should be made to do it Enduro-style by riding between the stages 🙂

I know the final details are to be announced, but looking at this:

From Hexham it looks like it climbs up past the Rat to Oakwood (nasty steep little climb) up to the Military Road, then drops down Brunton Bank which will be bonkers fast. Nice.

And then goes all the way to Ullswater, lovely. Maybe I’ll go over there to watch it instead…

what about the south west (or south wales for that matter)

boo!

Three stages in the north, one in the middle and four in the south….

Eh?

I’ll concede the Ipswich one is toward the south, Nottingham is firmly the Midlands, looks pretty northern to me otherwise!

Last years was very Southern so suck it up

So it was! I’d not realised how much of a southern bias there was last year! Was a general comment rather than anything, I assumed they went for quite a spread, but it seems not.

A good excuse to come and see some proper hills.

You realise there was more climbing (per mile or absolute) in the ToB stage between Camberley and Brighton than there was in the Leeds-Harrogate TdF stage last year? That wasn’t a hugely hilly route either.

You realise there was more climbing (per mile or absolute) in the ToB stage between Camberley and Brighton than there was in the Leeds-Harrogate TdF stage last year?

Thanks for running the stats on that, I had been wondering.

😆

I’ll concede the Ipswich one is toward the south, Nottingham is firmly the Midlands, looks pretty northern to me otherwise!

When did London move to the north?

The big arrow points to Dunsop Bridge – the centre of Britain.

3 above it, one on it, 4 below it.

Of course, it can also be calculated as being in Northumberland……….

It’s on every year you know!
Lots of chance to visit all over the countries (and they have previously).
Although I don’t know why Stoke always seems to get a start or finish 🙂

(ooh and well-said scotroutes)

Redheughs Rigg = nae luck. I know where I’ll be watching that stage.

Do you mean Redstone Rig? in the Lammies?

Stage 4 passes a mile from my house but I’d expect most local roadies will set themselves up to watch on the climbs between Giford and Duns. with Redstone rig being the most brutal of them.

Pity it wasn’t last month so they could have snow blizzards to make it a real test 😉

Where the heck is dunsop bridge? 😆 sorry that’s not the centre of anything

I thought the stage to hartside over military road and the lakes looked tough but cycling weekly says it has no significant climbs so contenders will wait till the last climb 😆 but then they did call it harside and think prudhoe is in Durham.

There’s a couple of Strava segments on there, local club runs a hill climb and a longer round loop TT using Melmerby-Hartside. I imagine it’ll be a teeny bit faster than that maybe. Top half is shallow enough that you’ll get a good bit of benefit from drafting, wind can be evil on what will be the finishing straight too, should be a bloody good stage!

That’s why I’m interested. Winner of the 2014 hill climb was about 19minutes, I got just under 21 for 11th (15th overall on Strava)
Suited testers though as really it has more in common with a 10 than a true short sharp British hill climb.

I thought the stage to hartside over military road and the lakes looked tough but cycling weekly says it has no significant climbs so contenders will wait till the last climb but then they did call it harside and think prudhoe is in Durham.

Strava reckons it’s around 2750m of climbing in 177km so not really very hilly – couple of short sharp climbs and one biggie – that’s a reasonably fair description. Rough route:
https://www.strava.com/routes/1588749

Hartside with a strong east wind though is a different matter. Downright evil.

My PB is 28:00, and that was 135km into a 190km ride from Lytham to Hexham, and it was 1:15am having set off at 7:30pm 🙂

The big arrow points to Dunsop Bridge – the centre of Britain.

3 above it, one on it, 4 below it.

I don’t think many people would say Liverpool is in the South though, in fact I’d defend that point to the death 😆

That’s why I’m interested. Winner of the 2014 hill climb was about 19minutes, I got just under 21 for 11th (15th overall on Strava)

Well done! I tried to enter that one on the day…shame they weren’t doing on the day entries…ahem…

Approximate Stage 4 strava route if anyone’s interested:
https://www.strava.com/routes/1588828

Not as familiar with some of those roads so there could be some mistakes.

[sigh] Everyone* knows that Haltwhistle (where I grew up) is the Centre of Britain!!!1!

Strava reckons it’s around 2750m of climbing in 177km so not really very hilly – couple of short sharp climbs and one biggie – that’s a reasonably fair description. Rough route:
https://www.strava.com/routes/1588749

Ah crap!! They go up “Bacon Hedge”, that’s one of my KOMZ, ****!