As above.

I think they could have some fantastic stages in the Highlands including some great climbs.

Too much effort/expense doing the transfers

An issue up north is closing roads too – across a lot of the UK the road network is dense enough that if you close one road theres a viable alternative nearby. Further north in scotland there are very limited alternative routes and often no alternatives at all

I was had to divert around a road closed by an accident last year – added 5 hours  to my journey!

How long to drive up there for 1 day?

Can you accommodate all the people needed for it?

The competitors might get blown off their bikes and eaten to the bone by midges. It’s too much of a risk to take.

Scotland isn’t in Britain ? (Rather doesn’t want to be)

😜🤠

There are about 0.06 people per square mile too, so a well attended stage finish may see 3 people and a sheep coming to watch.

Flippant though remark was, I reckon the North Of Scotland would make a fabulous parcor.

You’ve got an amazing array of roads, stunning scenery and some of the quietest areas within the U.K.

So yeah, why blooming well not ??

Write to the organisers…

Isn’t most of the ToB budget provided by regional development funds? I suspect there’s not much regional development going on up there, except for nuclear clean-up works.

Not to mention the ridiculous logistics in getting the race up there, and the lack of spectators. it’d be  like a stage of the Vuelta without the warm weather.

They used to run stages in the north when it was the old Kellogg’s your of Britain. One stage was from Aberdeen to Fife run over the Cairn O’Mount. Rumour is they are considering an Aberdeen start to a stage following the success of the Tour series events.

If they did it around Applecross, a road closure would work, because that’s what happens for the Bealach na Bah sportive.

For anything other than Stage one you need to link up so that you have a sensible amount of driving for the teams up there, Glasgow to Thurso is 6-8hrs depending on what you are driving, plus the length of the stage and then off to the next days hotel in enough time for the riders to get fed etc.

Aberdeen south would probably just about work if you then linked up with a Northern England stage and did it as the kick off.

in order to make it really work then Aberdeen should be the last stage – the reason the ToB gets a quality field is to provide a block of racing before worlds so having everyone ride the hardest stage first would be a damp squib

of course the above will never happen because the idea of a prestigious sporting event (final stage) anywhere other than London is too much of a cognitive dissonance

They did it in Dundee one year,  89 I think.  They did a mini mountain time trial from the city centre up the Law hill (large extinct volcano in middle of Dundee).  They then went off the next day to Glasgow.  I’m sure they could do that again.

ermm….. ToB doesn’t only finish in London.

Unless Cardiff is in London?

https://roadcyclinguk.com/racing/tour-britain-2017-route-edinburgh-start-cardiff-finale-essex-time-trial-no-summit-finishes/

Check your own cognitive dissonance?

Yes, it does use London most frequently, but that’s part of the draw / guaranteed big exposure to spectators, etc.

ToB was in Edinburgh 2015 and Glasgow 2016. Much further north and you get into some logistical challenges.

Don’t see any logistical challenges starting the event further north from say Inverness or Aberdeen. Maybe cost them a bit more in fuel. Doesn’t seem to be a problem in the Grand Tours in fact they often go further afield.

Don’t see any logistical challenges starting the event further north from say Inverness or Aberdeen

Drive time is a big one, if you can’t get your promo gear from stage 1 to 2 then you need 2 sets, if you have a longer drive then you need double the number of drivers to do that.

You then have the issue of getting the riders in and out in enough time for rest etc.

So way more than fuel costs, as this is a lower level tour the sponsorship etc will be much lower than a grand tour who will have enough kit etc to have stuff in a few locations.

Add in crap roads and the need for all the support vehicles then it’s a challenge.

Don’t see any logistical challenges starting the event further north from say Inverness or Aberdeen.

Decent hotels big enough for many hundred people? Enough local people to help marshall the event? I went to the start yesterday and there were masses of people involved in the organisation before you even consider the number of riders and team staff.

There are about 0.06 people per square mile too, so a well attended stage finish may see 3 people and a sheep coming to watch.

It’s as simple as that. The race is a commercial event, so the route choice is driven by maximising advertising exposure and attracting as many people as possible into the regions promoting the race. I think the English stages of the race attract around 5 million spectators. You simply wouldn’t get that volume of people traveling to the Highlands to watch the race, and if they did, the local infrastructure couldn’t cope. The more populous English regional authorities also have bigger budgets to spend on this sort of promotional activity. The really spectacular Highland routes wouldn’t actually be very practical for a major race either.

Don’t see any logistical challenges starting the event further north from say Inverness or Aberdeen. Maybe cost them a bit more in fuel. Doesn’t seem to be a problem in the Grand Tours in fact they often go further afield.

Aberdeen is only halfway (maybe 2/3rds if you squint) up Scotland really? And even then if you were to head South it’s a long stage just to get to Edinburgh Via the A90/M90, hardly a scenic route!

I’m sure there could be some spectacular racing, but the reality is there would be no one there to watch it!

I’m sure the teams would charter planes like they do for the TdF if there was TdF levels of exposure, in reality we’re on a par with the Tour of Poland and probably don’t even make it onto the TV outside the UK.

Decent hotels big enough for many hundred people? Enough local people to help marshall the event? I went to the start yesterday and there were masses of people involved in the organisation before you even consider the number of riders and team staff.

There are over 3,500 hotel rooms in Aberdeen and it has a population of over 200,000.

There might be many reasons for no TOB stage there, but try not to invent others.

Perhaps the answer is a separate Tour of Scotland. We could hold a referendum on it.

in reality we’re on a par with the Tour of Poland

Not even. Tour of Poland is WorldTour, whereas ToB is 2.HC.

It comes down to money; if Strathpeffer council or whoever wanted to pay for the race to visit, there’s no reason why it wouldn’t. The council would have to pay a lot more than towns more closely aligned to civilisation though due to the logistical challenges mentioned in previous posts.

There are over 3,500 hotel rooms in Aberdeen and it has a population of over 200,000.

There might be many reasons for no TOB stage there, but try not to invent others.

I know – I’m going there this week. 😁 It was more of a question than an objection but don’t let that get in the way of your irritability.

I doubt they are all decent rooms and man will already be booked with people working.

Hasn’t the Tour of Britain been some what superseded by the Tour of Yorkshire

Hasn’t the Tour of Britain been some what superseded by the Tour of Yorkshire

Seems to be what some of the yorkshire contingent keep shouting about, though as it’s only 4 days long and covers only yorkshire not sure there. Neither are really that big in world terms

Aberdeen is only halfway (maybe 2/3rds if you squint) up Scotland really? And even then if you were to head South it’s a long stage just to get to Edinburgh Via the A90/M90, hardly a scenic route!

There are other roads you know. Was thinking of the Cairn O’Mount or the Cairnwell pass. Could do the Lecht then Cairnwell out of Inverness.

First stage could be down to Edinburgh or Stirling second stage down through the borders then on to the flat lands of Englandshire to allow the sprinters to win some stages.

First stage could be down to Edinburgh or Stirling second stage down through the borders then on to the flat lands of Englandshire to allow the sprinters to win some stages.

Yep Aberdeen for stage 1 is about as far as I reckon (and others here) you could get, north of there would be harder to do.

If Aberdeen is keen to host it they need to apply and offer some stuffed envelopes!

Start/Finish towns have to bid to host a stage, and it’s quite expensive. I doubt it would represent a decent investment for Inverness/Aberdeen but I could see Dundee getting in on it if they want to show the rest of the country the recent developments.

Logistics – as mentioned above. Hotel rooms for all the crew and riders, drive time (transfers pre/post stage which have UCI limits on them), fuel stops (and the associated costs to the teams of fuelling their cars and buses), finding the relevant start and finish towns and a route in between them that is viable, gives good TV, allows decent crowds…

There’s also the fact that what you consider to be a really nice climb to just go and ride up doesn’t necessarily make for great racing. Sending a race along miles and miles of singletrack roads means the cars can’t service the riders, the motorbikes can’t move up and down the bunch and the whole thing could be “shut down” by just half a dozen riders sitting on the front.

Parking is another massive logistical headache, especially for all the start / finish crews with their lorry loads of barriers so finishing it up somewhere like Bealach na Ba isn’t going to work in terms of getting all the finishing kit up there.

There are other roads you know. Was thinking of the Cairn O’Mount or the Cairnwell pass. Could do the Lecht then Cairnwell out of Inverness.

Aberdeen to Edinburgh is 130miles via the motorway, by ToB standards that’s a fairly long day. My point was that finding a nice route is going to be even longer. They tend towards having the start/finish not as far as possible apart then a route between them.  T<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>he local authority sponsoring the stage (e.g. Aberdeen) won’t want the race making a b-line directly for the exit, they want as much time on TV as possible hence the circuitous routes between towns.</span>

So can the STW reader bike shop sponsor the tour they are going to organise 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣