UKC

94 riders in the race after stage 4.

Race leader Olav KOOIJ of Jumbo-Visma and another 55 riders are all on the same cumulative time of 13:25:31.

Too late to change the rules but surely they need some bonus seconds.

In reply to elsewhere:

Yeah, Kooij seems to have won every stage! Hopefully some hilly terrain to come will shuffle the pack.

In reply to elsewhere:

I've had zero interest in it.

In reply to DaveHK:

I’ve checked the results without any great enthusiasm for it. The clash with the Veulta hasn’t helped their cause.

In reply to JLS:

It always. Clashes with the Vuelta, but this year's course seems unusually uninteresting- unless sprint finishes is your thing. 

In reply to GrahamD:

Luke Rowe (Ineos) was saying on the Geraint Thomas Cycling Club Podcast that the ToB didn't have a headline sponsor, so doesn't have much money, so had to have stages wherever would have them, essentially they couldn't pay to have the race in interesting places.  'Flat budget, flat course'.

In reply to ablackett:

Such a shame, the few times it’s been down to us and gone over Dartmoor it was stunning with tdf like crowds lining the road up to Princeton from Tavistock.

Cheers

Toby

In reply to ablackett:

Interesting, and I agree this is an absolutely terrible ToB route. The UK has phenomenal scenery and although we lack long Alpine climbs we have plenty of punchy super steep ones that could easily be woven into fabric of the route to make the racing exciting. 

In reply to elsewhere:

Bring back the Tour de Yorkshire!

In reply to InC:

It would be unfair on middle England to exclude it entirely from the ToB but to have no stages in the hillier and more scenic parts (Scotland, Lakes, Wales, Peak, Yorkshire, Cornwall) has made for a very damp squib event. We watched bits of Stage 1 last year. Despite the rain there were big crowds and lots of noise, it was great. 

In reply to 65:

I suspect from the organiser’s point of view it’s a case of beggars can’t be choosers. Not many Local Authorities will want to stump-up the cash to host a stage, and the race, along with the Women’s Tour (same organiser) has struggled for sponsors. 

In reply to elsewhere:

It's like a scaled down grand tour from the 1990s - a week of flat stages ending in bunch sprints before they get onto the bits that everyone want to see!
We were watching the race on the Rake last Sunday and the atmosphere was great, loads of folk lining the climb.  But the final 40km was flat so that's always going to end in a bunch sprint.
Stage 7 looks like it could get a bit more interesting, classics terrain through the Cotswolds and a final climb 15km from the finish could be the place where the big teams try to force a selection.
And if not then stage 8 should be good; hills + final stage so the riders can go for all in for the win.   

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A bit more interesting today (Thurs 7 Sept). Watch the finish of the Tour of Britain.

In reply to elsewhere:

Where can we watch?

In reply to Pedro50:

GCN+ if you have it

In reply to Pedro50:

Freeview/itvx

In reply to Pedro50:

Live coverage is on ITV4 during the day and highlights are at either 8 or 9 each evening.

The commentating and analysis are way, way better than Quest's coverage of the Vuelta. Pity they don't have much to commentate on or analyse.

In reply to Yanis Nayu:

AJBell had a bit of a poor return on investment last year, with HM the Q pegging it and running major sporting events being deemed disrespectful. 

It was worth the wait - the last stage was excellent!

In reply to gimmer:

Yes, I tuned in and was pleasantly surprised it was pretty entertaining stuff.

After Remco sat up in the Veulta GC I sort of lost interest and didn't watch the last two days. I may need to give it another look to see if Remco the stage hunter holds my interest...

In reply to ablackett: I clearly know nothing of such things but would a tourist area charge to have what should should be a high profile event roll through ? When it’s passed close by to us ( lakes ) I’ve always ( twice ) taken a day off and the kids out of school to watch . The crowds have been huge and the support amazing . In my clearly naive world all the tourist areas would be jostling to be included and competing with what they would give / offer . Do councils really think of cycling as a niche sport ? I’ve always thought they had been actively encouraged to come . I wonder what kind of numbers  the headline sponser would be needed to fork out ? The ukc tour of Britain? Alan ? Ever do slightly off target ? 

all because of Brexit apparently - https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/sep/11/organiser-blames-brexit-and-a...

Does anyone know how much the tour charges towns/villages either to be the start/finish or to pass through ? And how does that compare with other tours such as the TdF ?

In reply to Doug:

I think it's around 100k to be  a finish town and  a bit less for a start, in both TdF and ToB. It's a lot more for a TdF Grand Depart.

In the UK the organisers have to find around 100k a day for the police, which I don't think they have to in Europe, but alleged fees of 1 million a day is the reason US races are moving from road to gravel.

The Welsh Government have made commitments in addition to local authorities which is a reason for the number of stages in Wales. Probably usually similar in Scotland, although they had the World Champs instead this year

In reply to JLS:

The last stage was fantastic. I stood on Caerphilly Mountain seeing them ascend twice. 

The riders were so close to us that you could really appreciate the effort they were putting in. Lots of tongues out, mouths wide open gasping for breath and looks of suffering, with the exception of Carlos Rodriguez who looked like he was taking it in his stride.

I'm not sure if is was broadcast but there were some really good wheelies pulled by a couple of the Ineos riders (Like Rowe being one) on the steeper section which got everyone cheering.

In reply to mike123:

I've got no idea why boring flat places would be more willing to pay for the ToB than exciting hilly places, I'd agree it doesn't really seem to make sense.