Our indispensable guide to the 2013 Tour of Britain

After successive British winners of the Tour de France, chances are you’ll have heard a bit about tour racing in the last two years. But read on to find out all you need to know about our very own Tour of Britain, and why it's set to be bigger than ever in 2013...

So what’s it all about?

A simple enough question to begin with! Tour races take place throughout the world, with the most famous (and biggest) being the ‘Grand Tours’ – the Tour de France, the Vuelta a Espana and the Giro d’Italia. Like these, the Tour of Britain takes place over several stages, with the overall leader each day – not the stage winner but the rider with the lowest overall time – being awarded the coveted Gold Jersey. Riders will require help from their teams, and much tactical manoeuvring, to maintain their position at the top of this ‘General Classification’ (or GC) and keep the Gold Jersey on their back. Other jerseys are awarded to the riders who have won most points (blue and white), those who’ve conquered the mountains (green spots), and the fastest sprinter (green and red).

With a variety of daily stages, ranging from mountainous routes (better suiting the lightweight climbers) to flat, fast ones favouring powerful sprinters, the best all-round riders – those able to perform best across all landscapes – will be at the top of the GC by the time the Tour reaches its finale on Sunday 22 September.

Above: Team Sky’s Luke Rowe wins stage 1 in the 2012 Tour of Britain

When’s the action taking place?

The Tour of Britain takes places over eight days, starting on Sunday 15 September in Peebles, in the Scottish borders. Each day sees a new stage, each of which can take anything up to six hours of gruelling racing. There’s very little let-up for the riders, as they’re transported to the start point of the next stage shortly after crossing the finish line. The final stage is on Sunday 22 September, starting and ending on Whitehall in London.

Where does it go?

The Tour takes in some of the most stunning scenic parts of Britain. Starting in Scotland the route makes its way through the north west and midlands, into Wales, before winding through devon and towards London. As you’d expect from a race that takes in some of the most picturesque parts of mainland Britain, it’s not all flat racing, with a variety of hilly and mountainous stages thrown in to test the riders.

This year’s eight stages are:

1. 15 September: Peebles-Drumlanrig Castle (201km/125mi – flat)

2. 16 September: Carlisle-Kendal (225km/140mi – medium mountain)

3. 17 September: Knowsley (16km/10mi – individual time trial)

4. 18 September: Stoke-Llanberis (191km/119mi – hilly)

5. 19 September: Machynlleth-Caerphilly (177km/110mi – medium mountain)

6. 20 September: Sidmouth-Haytor (137km/85mi – medium mountain)

7. 21 September: Epsom-Guildford (150km/93mi – hilly)

8. 22 September: London (88km/55mi – flat)

Above: The Tour of Britain – coming to a high street near you

Who’s involved?

This year’s competition will see 114 riders from 19 teams taking part, with a band of youth riders from the Great Britain national team racing against professional outfits including Team Sky and Movistar – two of the top teams at this year’s Tour de France. Sir Bradley Wiggins is due to race for Team Sky, although his team-mate and reigning Tour of Britain champion Jonathan Tiernan-Locke will not compete this time around. Fellow Brit Mark Cavendish is scheduled to race with his Belgian team, Omega Pharma-Quick Step; and Cannondale Pro Cycling and Garmin-Sharp complete the pro team line-up.

This year’s Tour of Britain will be the biggest field the event has ever seen, in the tenth anniversary race of the modern era, surpassing 2012’s showing of 17 teams.

2013 Tour of Britain team list:

UCI Pro Teams
Cannondale Pro Cycling
Garmin-Sharp
Movistar
Omega Pharma-Quick Step
Sky Pro Cycling

UCI Pro Continental Teams
Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox
IAM Cycling
MTN Qhubeka p.b Samsung
Sojasun
Team NetApp Endura
UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling

UCI Continental Teams
AN Post Chain Reaction
Madison Genesis
Node4 Giordana Racing
Rapha Condor JLT
Team IG Sigma Sport
Team Raleigh
Team UK Youth

National Teams
Great Britain

A little bit of history

The Tour of Britain has undergone a number of transformations since its formation in 1945 as the ‘Victory Marathon’, becoming the ‘Milk Race’ and ‘Butlin Tour’, among other incarnations, before a mid-1990s hiatus, returning to the calendar in 2004 in its current form.

As Britain’s biggest professional cycling race it attracts one million roadside spectators annually, and since 2008 has been raced over eight days, after originally returning to the calendar as a five-day event.

Former stage winners of the Tour include big names such as Andre Greipel, Edvald Boasson Hagen and Tom Boonen, while household names in British Cycling, such as Ed Clancy and Geraint Thomas have joined the likes of Wiggins and Cavendish in the fabric of the event.

With the 2013 Tour of Britain coming hot on the heels of the Britain’s second successive Tour de France victory, and with the enduring high from the home Olympics in 2012, the event looks set to capture the imagination of an ever-growing cycling public. 

More on the Tour of Britain

The best places to watch the 2013 Tour of Britain
Women’s Grand Prix adds something extra to the Tour of Britain
Fourteen facts you probably didn’t know about the Tour of Britain