What’s it all about

What is The Tour of Britain?

The Tour of Britain is an international road cycle race, which is broken up into eight stages, taking place over eight days. This year the race will run from Saturday 11 September to Saturday 18 September.

The Tour of Britain will be in Somerset and Devon on Tuesday 14 and Wednesday 15 September. We are very lucky to have two stages in the South West, that’s 25% of the entire race!

Over the eight days of racing the cyclists will cover around 760 miles (1,223kms). Phew – that’s a lot of pedal power!

To see what other areas of Britain the race visits, click here.

To get closer to the teams and their performance in The Tour of Britain 2010, click here.

How many cyclists take part in The Tour of Britain?

The number of cyclists taking part in the race can change each year, but it’s usually around 16 teams, made up of 6 riders each. So, that’s around 96 riders.

The race is all about team work. Each team usually has a:

Leader – someone who will try and finish each stage of the race first

Mountain climber – someone who is good at cycling up hills

Sprinter – someone that can cycle very fast

Domestiques – the domestiques are cyclists who help the team leader get to the finish first. Their job is to shelter the leader from the wind, fetch food and drink and even give up their bikes if the leader has a mechanical problem!

What are ‘Sprints’ and ‘King of the Mountains’?

During each stage of The Tour of Britain three Sprints and three King of the Mountains take place.

A Sprint is a section of the race which riders have to try and do in a really quick time. Sprint time bonus points are awarded to the first riders to reach certain locations along the route.

A King of the Mountains (KOM) is a hill climb. Each KOM is rated from 1 to 3 depending of the difficulty (Category 1 is the most difficult). The steeper and longer the hill, the tougher the climb. KOM bonus points are awarded to the leading riders who reach the top of the hill climb first.

How do cyclists win the race?

The race isn’t just about who gets to the finish line first – it’s made up of several competitions all going on at once! This may seem complicated at first, but it makes the race even more exciting to watch. The current leader in each competition wears a special jersey.

	Yellow Jersey — Race Leader The overall winner of The Tour of Britain will be the rider who completes the race in the quickest time. The Yellow Jersey is worn during the race by the current leader.
	The Prostate Cancer Charity Blue Jersey — Points Leader The winner of the Blue Jersey will be the rider who gains the most points throughout the course of the race. The Blue Jersey is worn during the race by the current points leader.
	Polka-Dot Jersey — King of the Mountains Leader The Polka-Dot Jersey is worn by the rider who has been the most consistent in reaching the summits of the King of the Mountains climbs along the route. There are three categories of climbs, with the longest and steepest climbs worth most points.
	Red, White & Blue Jersey — Sprints Leader The first three riders across the line at each of the sprints receive points towards the Red, White & Blue Jersey. The rider who crosses the line first gets 3 points, the second gets 2 points, and the third gets 1 point. These “Hot Spot” sprints are important to the outcome of the race, as the points gained are translated into seconds which are taken off each rider’s overall time.

What about other professional cycle races?

The Tour of Britain makes up part of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Europe Tour. The Europe Tour has a lot of cycling events which professional cyclists from around the world can take part in.

The UCI also has a Continental Circuit, which includes around 450 road races! The purpose of all of these races is to inspire people from all walks of life across the world to get cycling.

To find out more about Tours around the world, click here.

Become a cycling star

There are a lot of different forms of competitive cycling – from road racing (like The Tour of Britain) to off-road mountain biking, BMX or cycle speedway.
If you think you’ve got what it takes to become a professional cyclist, or maybe you just want to find out more about cycling clubs and races in your area visit British Cycling.