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Anyone heading down to Kelso for the start (+finish)?
A fine looking start list 🙂
https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/tourofbritain
On 6th September I'll be manning the Ilkeston CC stand as they come through our village.
I’ve been involved in part in organising the South Yorkshire stage. Should be a good day with a few punchy climbs too. It starts about 500m from my office so may well go to watch it set off.
We were going to go to somewhere in the Borders, still may do, but the current forecast is awful, 70% chance of rain all day. Lets hope it changes.
I'm driving one of the race officials so I get all 6 days. 🙂
I working corporate stuff all day in Kelso. If you are visiting Melrose is a good spot. x2 sprints through the town and a big screen to watch the race the rest of the time.
Is it on itv4 as usual? Will have to set the pvr
I am an idiot. I was expecting to go to Jedburgh for the race to pass in the torrential rain yesterday. Luckily,yesterday morning, before I set off, I looked online at the start list, and realised I’m a week early. So, hopefully I’ll be there in 6 days time, in far better weather than it was yesterday.
Is it on itv4 as usual? Will have to set the pvr
Yes. Ned Boulting has tweeted a couple of bits of info about it plus he'll be doing the Never Strays Far podcast from the race as well.
I see there's a sprint in Tickhill. Seems a shame they couldn't do another 2 miles to Harworth to pay homage to Tom Simpson.
Ned Boulting has tweeted a couple of bits of info about it
Yes, Ned replied when i asked on twitter, live coverage every day plus highlights in the evening. I'd still rather have had them covering the Vuelta though 😉
Forecast looking better for next week.
Are there details of the road closures ,I plan to park an ride from near Melrose.
Velogames is up and running:
Anyone who’s previously entered a team into the STW Grand Tours League for either the Vuelta, the Giro or the TDF will automatically join again if they enter a team – I can see there are a few of us in there already
For anyone who’s not done it before, you can spend 100 points on 9 riders in various categories, and the riders score points depending on how they do each day / overall. I’ve never quite figured it out but I pick riders who I want to do well and tend to finish mid table. Once you’ve entered your team, join league ID 347313627
Anyone know of a live tracker? Would be good to know where they are to save me missing them because they've gone through early.
I watched a fair chunk of the race on tv today. hopefully I'll catch the highlights for the rest of the race week.
Drove part of yesterday's route on my way to kelso to see Pete, Ned and David (we're pals now) farmer out cutting the blackthorn hedging along the road. Been told but not confirmed that there were a few punctures.
It passes very close to my house on Friday and I'm not at work. It would be rude not to!
We're in Suffolk this weekend so it'll be a visit to Lowestoft and Felixstowe to watch the start and finish of the stage.
Fingers crossed it stays dry.
Itv4 coverage from 1045 today, three cat 1s for them to get over, expected to be harder than yesterday.
So watching on ITV4 at the moment. Lots of coverage on boring tree lined roads, about to head across a nice picturesque bridge and through the market town of Yarm which would make some lovely TV pictures and they cut to adverts. Come back and they're out the other side and back on dull country lanes.
Is this an intentional snub to Yarm? Have they not contributed financially so the race organisers have told ITV to not show it as they pass through? Seems a bit odd otherwise at this stage of the race when there wasn't much else happening.
Sod's law it comes to my home town on Saturday when I am not in residence. I'd have liked to have had a ride out and watched some of it.
Lovely day for it in the Borders.
Rode over to Kelso for the start, then high-tailed it back for Dingleton and then back to Kelso for a late lunch and the finish - beers in the sun next to the podium. Rode home.
Felt really well organised and well attended right across the route.
Sat at home working watching them ride on many of the roads that I do which is great.
It's just a shame that if you didn't know of Ned & David then you would think that they didn't know of cycling outside of the Tour de France given their commentary. Which is a shame as I know that they are abreast of the whole sport - I just wish they'd mention it more
Aye, it was a grand day and good to see so many folk out on a Tuesday.
Biked up to Scott's View for the first lap,then down to St Boswells for a beer/lunch and watched them charge across at the blocked A68 crossing.
Its nice to see it back through Derbyshire, the forecast is very good for Friday, i may go down to no mans lane towards Dale Abbey to see the riders come through. It will be a blink and you miss it affair, i usually go when its in East Leake and over near Ilkeston a couple of year back too.
Tempted to go the velodrome but i guess it will be pretty busy there, maybe not as busy as when i went to Leeds city centre for the tour de france opening stage start. Is there usually much to see at a start, the riders sign on? Or is that just grand tours haha.
Anyone else embarrassed about the state of the roads they are having to ride on?
It's coming past my area today - I live in the middle of a loop in the course so I'm trying to work out from the road book timings if I can see the start then shoot over to one of the climbs before they get there, and I have to get home to host a Zoom call!
Feels quite cool knowing Remco, Alaphilippe and crew will be popping up on the Strava leader boards. I think I'll move down a few places, like 1000th to 1100th... Although I'm still above Lars Boom on a local road descent! He's not been back to defend it since 2014 though.
All the teams were presented at Kelso at the start, used a lorry (also used for the podium etc).
Remco & co being top of the leaderboard is super cool; it's just one of the coolest parts of the sport that we get to see them and then ride the same roads, just a t̶i̶n̶y̶ b̶i̶t̶ lot slower, albeit with traffic.
Anyone else embarrassed about the state of the roads they are having to ride on?
I know what you mean, but I'm pragmatic about it. It's a relatively minor week-long race - a UCI ProSeries tour - so the same level as the Tour(s) of Turkey or Hungary, for example, or minor races in Spain or Portugal. Those races also have a mix of road surface conditions, so it's not unusual to find rough roads. British roads are certainly not freshly relaid Giro or Tour surfaces, but then why would they be? All the years of chronic underfunding, heavier vehicles, population density, the weather, the topography.
If/when we become a cycling nation...
i may go down to no mans lane towards Dale Abbey to see the riders come through
Should be a few Ilkeston CC folks up there watching our hill climb times being obliterated! Follow along behind them after that to West Hallam and say Hi at the ICC stand!
It’s a relatively minor week-long tour, and a UCI ProSeries tour
Aye, it's (probaly) as much to do with the fact that these are the only roads that they are 'allowed' to use/close.
Back in 2012 we had an awful bit of road resurfaced locally ahead of the Tour coming through. I can only assume that Derbyshire County Council had a risk assessment outlining the cost of causing a career ending injury to Wiggins and Cavendish!
12 years on and it's still in great shape, they actually did it properly!
British Cycling pre drive the entire route with local authorities and then traffic light issues to identify what needs to be fixed, what would be nice to fix and what is okay. The overwhelming majority of the Scottish Borders stage was green light, with only a tiny amount of areas needing re-done. Apparently BC were very impressed with the surface, despite local Facebook commentators regularly getting furious about the roads.
Is there usually much to see at a start, the riders sign on? Or is that just grand tours haha.
Yes, you get all the riders presented, the team parking is normally very nearby, riders warming up etc.
The finish yesterday on the sea front at Redcar was very accessible too although that can be a bit hit and miss depending on the route layout - if the team parking is spread out or a little distance off, the riders just disappear!
Damp start this morning in Sheffield but supposed to brighten up a bit later.
Huge crowds yesterday on Saltburn Bank including the TdF Beefeaters who took up station outside the pub/hotel on the hill and just engaged wonderfully with all the staff and the crowds around them.
https://twitter.com/TheSpaSaltburn/status/1831413817361986019?t=8hdiaSerGFLfyKAVmQPy8Q&s=19
That video is brilliant.
Good fun that.
Rolled down from home and people were out in the streets early whole Primary class outside Rivelin Fire Station. Malin Bridge filling up. School kids in Oughtibridge going nuts waving flags as I (and others obvs) rolled through. Got a PB up Jawbone - off to see how it stacks up! Then rolled down to watch on a longish straight.
Won't post spoilers but pretty cool to see the big names. I called who would be on the front yesterday and was right.
Police were in the spirit of it - chucking out mints to us and waving.
All round good vibe for all be it 2 minutes of actual action!
Zoomed home to join Zoom. Jealous of those spectators that are chasing the race to the finish.
Derbyshire Police are on social media ahead of tomorrow's stage with lots of advice about respect, courtesy, close passes etc.
Shame about the bit saying cyclists have "a responsibility to.....to use cycle lanes where available". I have asked them to check the Highway Code s61 and amend the wording.
Rolled down from home and people were out in the streets early whole Primary class outside Rivelin Fire Station. Malin Bridge filling up. School kids in Oughtibridge going nuts waving flags as I (and others obvs) rolled through.
The schools are all out in force - not sure which town it was that we passed through but there must have been 1000 pupils out aged from about 5 up to teenagers! Whole street was filled with them for half a mile!
Nice to see Ringinglow in all its glory!
Lovely turn out on Lodge Lane five minutes from my house. Inspirational roofbar loading.
There's a very tight, very steep bend that we all stood on. As one of the italian riders got to it he let out a very audible "f***ng hell", which amused us all.
I was disappointed that most of Ringinglow to Lodge Lane passed during an ad break.
I was disappointed that most of Ringinglow to Lodge Lane passed during an ad break.
Literally couldn't see a bloody thing up there. Misty, damp roads, the peloton all frisky at the start plus really winding twisty roads. Almost impossible to film anything. I'm not even sure the aerial relay plane was up. Certainly no helicopter at all today.
One of the photography motos went down on a corner, the photographer was taken to hospital.
There’s a very tight, very steep bend that we all stood on. As one of the italian riders got to it he let out a very audible “f***ng hell”, which amused us all.
There's one near us tomorrow that may prove "interesting". They have at least filled the cavernous pot hole just round the blind bend - the locals out a big warning sign out for it earlier in the year.
Nice party vibes on the video. I am sure once these riders take off tomorrow as usual via elvaston castle they will light it up through Risley and romp up no mans and the lesser climb as they leave Dale Abbey. I think cloves hill would have slowed them a little more but for these guys it's meat & drink. I may try and get down for the warm ups and bit before the start, depending hiw early it starts. I've seen the start time but it doesn't detail how much earlier it's advisable to go down. I remembered wiggins doing the depart when he was tdf champion and that was crazy busy tho i didn't make it down early enough back in 2012
I managed to get down to Derby Velodrome about an hour before the start, it was nice to see all the teams presented on a beautiful morning. It looked a healthy turnout with crowd but not overkill probably because it was a weekday.
There was a lot of people fighting to get a look at Evenpoel, climbing through trees etc like paparazzi. I took a steady ride behind the lotto soudal crew as they rode up to be presented, Remco was on a nice Gold Specialized but i want one of the trinity specialized bikes which were very bright.
Nice green cycling caps and flags handed out, the last one i got was at the tour de france leeds when the wagon drove past near the start of the opening stage. Its nice the event managed to go ahead and bring some good vibes to all the cyclists and wider public. There is still a long way to go for cycling in the UK but this was a positive event fron what i could see with some excitement for tbe occasion.
Great day for the Derby stage yesterday - our youth academy led them out ahead of the neutral start and peeled off just before the flag dropped at Elvaston - one and his mum set themselves up for the "kid cycling on the pavement alongside peloton" shot and ITV and the Tour picked it up on social media.
Big turn out in the village as the council had put some activities on - 3 of us manned a stall for the club and got interviewed by local ITV news but didn't make the cut, but a friend's daughter made the BBC local news talking about how great the cycling was - ironic as she's a gymnast and my daughter coaches her!
Very weird watching the tour ride your local roads, they look totally different, and much flatter! The live coverage cut to an advert just as they turned into our village and came back just as the left us. Bastards!
Well I thought it was a bit disrespectful to cut to the adverts while Cav was being interviewed on the podium. Mind you he was still banging on after the adverts finished.
I see the podium 1,2,3 got boxes of Pringles.
Do not go on any local paper post about the race on Facebook unless you enjoy winding up people posting about how the police outriders are a waste of taxpayers money, why the riders aren't fined for breaking the 20mph speed limit through villages and the compulsory "road tax" comments
We were in Suffolk so headed up to Lowestoft for the start today. It was nice being able to have a good look at the team bikes before the stage, plenty of riders running 55t chainrings, I don’t think I’d be able to turn the pedals in 55/11!
plenty of riders running 55t chainrings, I don’t think I’d be able to turn the pedals in 55/11!
The pace today was RAPID. Significantly faster than even the fastest scheduled time, they were not hanging around.
Paul Magnier, the red jersey points leader, had a tangle with Tom Pidcock, both crashed (along with several others) and abandoned.
The loss of Magnier prompted a flurry of other attacks from Lotto-Soudal (Evenepoel in particular) which split everything to bits until eventually things calmed down for a while.
Theres a good write up of the stage here:
https://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-of-britain-2024/stage-6/results/
Cav was at the finish for a special presentation too. Turns out that as well as holding the record for TdF stage wins, he also has the record for Tour of Britain wins!
Do not go on any local paper post about the race on Facebook unless you enjoy winding up people posting about how the police outriders are a waste of taxpayers money, why the riders aren’t fined for breaking the 20mph speed limit through villages and the compulsory “road tax” comments
Generally, the atmosphere out on the roadside was amazing. Especially the schoolkids in the weekdays.
A few pro-Palastine demos and some shouting at Israel - PremierTech.
Outside the race bubble, a few shouts from drivers stuck in traffic. Turns out that driving a fully branded race vehicle through a town centre (after the race, driving back to hotels etc) when everyone else has been stuck in queuing traffic generates a few shouts but there was nothing actually threatening and no attempts at sabotage, throwing tacks etc. The villages has really gone big on it, loads of bunting, support, big crowds.
The police outriders up the front commented on how unbelievably thick some drivers were - getting into arguments about how they always drive down this road at this time. I'm convinced that a couple of Cheshire towns had "coordinated" something similar during the Women's Tour, it seemed that every driveway we went past at one point had a posh SUV nosing out of it. Oh yeah, we just happen to want to drive to Waitrose at exactly the time that the race is passing...
Thought I’d better share my favourite photo from Kelso. I bet he’ll be boring people for years telling them about the time he met me.
One of mine from today ^^^ Peasenhall. We left straight away and bombed it down to Rendham.