Tour of Britain

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The Tour of Britain is the name given to a cycle race, conducted over several stages, in which participants race from place to place across parts of Great Britain. The latest version, a professional stage race, was first run in 2004, but the history of the event dates back to 1951.

History

Marking the involvement of different sponsors, it has also variously been known as:

Scot Ian Steel won the 1951 edition, in which Jimmy Savile (later to become a famous DJ and television personality) also raced. The 1955 edition was organised by the British League of Racing Cyclists.
At its peak, this was a two-week amateur event similar in status to the Peace Race, contested by international teams. From about 1983, the event was also opened to professional teams. The Milk Marketing Board also sponsored the Scottish Milk Race, a smaller tour in Scotland.
Winners included: Robert Millar (1989), Phil Anderson (1991, 1993), Max Sciandri (1992) and, in its final year, Maurizio Fondriest.
Stuart O'Grady (Crédit Agricole) won the 1998 edition; Marc Wauters (Rabobank) won in 1999.

The modern tour

2004 Tour of Britain

The first edition of the latest version of the Tour of Britain took place over five days in early September 2004, organised by the BCF. Sponsored by the organisers of London's 2012 Olympics bid, it was well-promoted and attracted a number of well-known teams such as T-Mobile (Germany) and U.S. Postal Service (USA). This was partly due to it being a 2.3 category race on the Union Cycliste Internationale calendar.

The 2004 route climaxed with a 45 mile (72 km) criterium in London, where tens of thousands of spectators saw a long break by Londoner Bradley Wiggins last until the penultimate lap, with Enrico Degano of Team Barloworld taking the sprint on the line. The Colombian Mauricio Ardila, of Chocolade Jacques, won the Tour overall.

2005 Tour of Britain

The 2005 race was run in six stages starting in Glasgow on 30 August and finishing in London on 4 September:

Start Finish Winner
Stage 1 Glasgow Castle Douglas Nick Nuyens
Stage 2 Carlisle Blackpool Roger Hammond
Stage 3 Leeds Sheffield Luca Paolini
Stage 4 Buxton Nottingham Serguei Ivanov
Stage 5 Birmingham Birmingham Nick Nuyens
Stage 6 London London Luca Paolini

The overall winner was Nick Nuyens.

External links