Tour of Britain

Now we have something / quite-a-lot to discuss and celebrate.
rjb
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Tour of Britain

Post by rjb »

Heads up for the Tour of Britain. Starting in Cornwall today.
Stage 2 Plymouth to Exeter looks lumpy. 3 cat 2 hills but even Pork Hill isnt categorised in favour of Merrivale which is. Good weather forecast which will be a bonus. Will HMP allow the inmates to watch as they pass by. :lol:

They could be in the break :shock:

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Jdsk
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Re: Tour of Britain

Post by Jdsk »

"They could be in the break"

Very good.

Jonathan
bjlabuk
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Re: Tour of Britain

Post by bjlabuk »

Stage 8 is coming to a town near me. Having never viewed a big race like this before I was wondering whether going to the 'start' (prior to the 0km) to see the cyclists preparing would be more interesting than, say, standing at the side of the road along the route? Is the start area heavily cordoned off? Trying to think what would be most interesting for a 13 year old. Any advice welcome. I guess we could drive to more than one place if need be.
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mjr
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Re: Tour of Britain

Post by mjr »

bjlabuk wrote: 6 Sep 2021, 9:40am Stage 8 is coming to a town near me. Having never viewed a big race like this before I was wondering whether going to the 'start' (prior to the 0km) to see the cyclists preparing would be more interesting than, say, standing at the side of the road along the route? Is the start area heavily cordoned off?
The ceremonial start town will be more interesting, usually with a stage for riders to sign in and Joe and whoever making announcements over loudspeakers and so on, then a few minutes to see riders be called to the start line including competition leaders and possibly any national and world champions still in the race. But you will not see any racing and it will probably be crowded which isn't great during an infectious disease pandemic.

At the roadside, you would see a snapshot of the race. It is fascinating to see the riders in real life but you will not usually be able to tell how the race turns out. Try to pick a place where you can see them approach and depart, if possible. Stand well back - you do not want to be on TV for the wrong reasons. I think it would be up to an hour of standing around for a few minutes view, but following the race and timing viewpoints has become easier with live trackers, smartphones and mobile tv (unless a race is as big as the Olympics and phone systems collapse).

I wouldn't try to drive between more than two points on a stage. Traffic will already be disrupted by the rolling road closures and other spectators moving around.
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bjlabuk
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Re: Tour of Britain

Post by bjlabuk »

Thanks for your advice. Much appreciated.
thirdcrank
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Re: Tour of Britain

Post by thirdcrank »

The best roadside views of a race are normally on the climbs and the longer and steeper the better. That's not much help if you live somewhere flattish and as it's something widely known, there are often crowds on the climbs. I don't know to what extent the crowds seen at eg the Grand Départ in Leeds of the TdeF and other events sponsored by Welcome to Yorkshire is reflected in other races. One year - admittedly in bad weather - I was almost on my own at the top of Holme Moss to see what was probably the Kellogs (Phil Anderson in the leader's jersey.)

I've not looked at the detailed map of this event but some races have several laps of a finishing circuit. I don't know if the higher profile of bike racing in recent years has changed this, but I've seen a couple of instances around here where the police summarily altered the finish. In Bradford around 1990(ish) there was supposed to be a three lap finishing circuit in the city centre and the local police commander decided at the last minute that the stage would end on the first passage of the line ie no circuit. Around the same time, a finishing circuit in Leeds was completely altered with little notice by the police.
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mjr
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Re: Tour of Britain

Post by mjr »

thirdcrank wrote: 6 Sep 2021, 10:35am I don't know to what extent the crowds seen at eg the Grand Départ in Leeds of the TdeF and other events sponsored by Welcome to Yorkshire is reflected in other races.
Pictures of the Cornwall stage yesterday looked busy but still only about a quarter of the Yorkshire TdF stages (which I visited). One could probably get a space but maybe not your first choice or with a great view if you didn't arrive very early.
... a couple of instances around here where the police summarily altered the finish. ...
I think it was one such attempted alteration to the 2007 Tour of Britain by North Yorks police and council (working together, I think) provoked a rider strike, race neutralisation and riders taking the shortest route out, escorted by the national motorcycle police group and organisation cars. I think this is part of the reason that the Tour has not visited Yorkshire since 2008.
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mattheus
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Re: Tour of Britain

Post by mattheus »

I heard that the Welsh authorities have banned spectators/gawpers from the start/finihs points of their stages - for pandemic reasons.
Can't say I blame them, tricky situation ...
thirdcrank
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Re: Tour of Britain

Post by thirdcrank »

bjlabuk

In case you are wondering about the attraction of climbs, it's largely because that's where races are often decided. Anybody who can sit on a bike and pedal can usually sit in a big bunch on the flat - you are almost sucked along, but it get harder uphill: as the pace is a bit slower, the benefit of riding behind somebody else is reduced, climbing takes more strength so the strong riders tend to take advantage of that to spread the field. So, on a climb you are more likely to see the decisive action and less likely to see the entire race flash by as a single bunch. You may even see the race split with big time gaps. The disappearance of the majority of the spectators doesn't necessarily mean all the riders have passed. Watch out for the vehicle following the race to pick up any who abandon. Once upon a time it used to have a broom displayed but that's no longer always the case.
bjlabuk
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Re: Tour of Britain

Post by bjlabuk »

Stage 8 has only on Cat 1 hill and two Cat 3 hills. The road for the Cat 1 is going to be closed from 6pm the night before, so unless I do some overnight camping at the top of the Cairn O'Mount I don't think I will be viewing that ascent !

https://www.tourofbritain.co.uk/wp-cont ... E_CMYK.jpg

Think I will go to the opening ceremony and then head for the roadside somewhere. Hope the weather holds up Deeside for the riders!
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foxyrider
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Re: Tour of Britain

Post by foxyrider »

thirdcrank wrote: 6 Sep 2021, 12:37pm bjlabuk

Watch out for the vehicle following the race to pick up any who abandon. Once upon a time it used to have a broom displayed but that's no longer always the case.
Yes it is, even the TdF has a broom on the sweeper van and the World Champs in 'arrogate certainly had a Broom Wagon - if the ToB (what a misnomer) doesn't respect this tradition then thats another boo for them.
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rjb
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Re: Tour of Britain

Post by rjb »

10 odd years ago i saw the race in somerset coming off exmoor with a Taunton finish. The tail riders were strung out for miles. We the club riders were riding back on the route to taunton when a police motorcycle escort rider caught us and gave us all an escort back home, stopping all the traffic as if we were in the race. I think the broom wagon may have been behind us as some riders were over an hour down :lol:

cracking day down here, sunny warm 25 degrees, light winds. Hope it lasts a few more days.
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Jamesh
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Re: Tour of Britain

Post by Jamesh »

Wow the wheels fell if jumbo visma bikes today.

We the DS having a napp?!!

Great riding from the breakaway!

Cheers James
Mike Sales
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Re: Tour of Britain

Post by Mike Sales »

They seem to have stopped wasting the presentation champagne.
I always hated to see it being sprayed around.
It's the same the whole world over
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure
Isn't it a blooming shame?
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TrevA
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Re: Tour of Britain

Post by TrevA »

bjlabuk wrote: 6 Sep 2021, 9:40am Stage 8 is coming to a town near me. Having never viewed a big race like this before I was wondering whether going to the 'start' (prior to the 0km) to see the cyclists preparing would be more interesting than, say, standing at the side of the road along the route? Is the start area heavily cordoned off? Trying to think what would be most interesting for a 13 year old. Any advice welcome. I guess we could drive to more than one place if need be.
I would definitely go to the Start. You get a chance to see the riders at very close quarters. I did this when we had a stage in Notts a few years ago. Got to the start area early and mingled with the riders, whose team cars and buses were all parked up in a large car park next to the library in the start town. We watched the ceremonial start, and the race was doing a loop through the South Notts villages before turning north. This enabled us to get ahead of them and see the race on one of the local climbs. This was all done on our bikes, so we had no worries about parking anywhere.

I’ve also followed the race in a car through Derbyshire and managed to see it 4 or 5 times, but it’s a bit frantic with the temporary road closures and subsequent traffic jams.
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