Women's road racing to get own tour

Next year will see a women's race as well
The announcement of the route for this year's Tour of Britain has just been made. For the first time, next spring will see a stage race for women too.

This year's Tour will visit most parts of western Britain with the start on Sunday 15 September in Scotland and the eighth and final stage in London on Sunday 22 September. There will be an event for women riders on the last stage this year but next spring, there are plans afoot for a longer stage race for women - there has never been a women's Tour of Britain before.

Chief Executive of CTC Gordon Seabright said:

The announcement of a tour for women is great news for women’s cycling! When launching women’s outfit Team CTC earlier in the year, we hoped both to help talented female athletes and to inspire more women to cycle. It’s therefore great to see women’s cycle racing moving up the agenda.”

Lydia Boylan, Team CTC rider and Irish national champion, added: "It’s fantastic news to have our very own women’s tour. I’m very much hoping that the event will form part of my race calendar for the year 2014”.