A MEMBER of the organising team behind the Tour of Britain cycling event has spoken of his excitement that the series will be returning to Llandudno and other parts of North Wales this year.
Peter Hodges, PR and marketing director at SweetSpot Group, believes that the fourth of this year’s eight stages, which encompasses Llandudno and finishes with a steep climb to the top of the Great Orme, will make for one of the race’s most spectacular scenes.
On Wednesday, September 8, competitors will ride more than 200 km from Aberaeron to Llandudno, before ending with the 1.9km, 9.8 per cent average climb to the finishing line at the top of the Great Orme in Llandudno.
Peter, who considers this the hardest stage at this year’s event, is delighted the Tour of Britain is returning to North Wales and Llandudno for the first time since 2016 and 2014 respectively, with a challenging route that has been in the pipeline for almost two years.
He said: “We’re delighted to be coming back. This was originally the route and stage that should have took place in 2020; effectively, we have been working on this since late 2019.
“The team at Conwy and Llandudno know us really well, and I think it’s fair to say we have long harboured the ambition of finishing at the Great Orme.
“It’s definitely going to be special. I’m an amateur cyclist, but I tend to stick to the flatter routes – I’ll be at the front, looking towards the world’s best doing it,” he laughed.
Mark Cavendish, who is entering for the 12th time, and Tokyo 2020 silver medallist and six-time Tour de France stage winner Wout van Aert have so far been announced for this year’s Tour of Britain, which SweetSpot have organised since the first modern race in 2004.
Stage four starts in Ceredigion, before going through Aberystwyth and Barmouth, then entering Llanwrst, Trefriw, Dolgarrog, Tal-y-bont and Baclaw, until eventually making its way to Conwy.
Cyclists will then ride past Conwy Castle, and over the River Conwy and A55 expressway, before moving through Llandudno Junction, and later West Shore and Abbey Road.
It will then finish with that gruelling incline up the Great Orme which, unlike in 2014, will see the cyclists ride right to its summit.
“Last time, we came round Marine Drive and against the toll road, whereas this time, the route takes us all the way round,” Peter added.
“We’ll come into Llandudno, up the West Shore beach across Abbey Road, all the way round Marine Drive, back to the West Shore, along Abbey Road again, and then up (the Great Orme).
“We’ve started calling it the ‘Queen Stage’, partly because of the finish. It (the latter part of the route, around Llandudno) is basically 10 km. Even Marine Drive is a pretty hard hill in itself – it’s certainly not a flat, friendly route.”
Spectators will able to gather to watch the Tour of Britain free of charge, while live television coverage of the race will be shown daily in the UK on ITV4.
Starting in Cornwall on September 5 and ending in Aberdeen a week later, the tour’s full provisional list of competitors will be announced on Monday, August 30.
To see if the Tour of Britain will pass by you in North Wales, visit: www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/19470273.check-see-tour-britain-route-north-wales-goes-near-house.
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