The Race

The ninth edition of the modern Tour of Britain runs from Sunday 9th to Sunday 16th September 2012, and was officially launched at the end of April.

The Grand Depart will take place in Ipswich, with Suffolk and Norfolk hosting the opening stage of this year’s race on Sunday 9th September. From there The Tour will visit Nottingham, Knowsley and Merseyside, Scotland, the North West, Stoke-on-Trent, Wales and Devon before the challenging final stage in the Surrey Hills, finishing on Guildford’s uphill, cobbled High Street on Sunday 16th September.

In between 100 of the world’s best riders will be tackling climbs in the Peak District, mid-Wales and Dartmoor to name but three of the locations The Tour takes in on its journey through England, Scotland and Wales.

Once again The Tour of Britain will showcase Britain’s stunning scenery to a domestic and international audience with some of the world’s top cyclists competing on British roads for the right to win the IG Markets Gold Jersey.

You can find a list of stages below, while preview maps can be downloaded here. More information on all of our 2012 venues will be added over the coming weeks, along with downloadable maps showing individual stage routes.

Later in the Summer we’ll have descriptions on all of the stage routes available here building up to the highly detailed interactive stage maps being published at the end of July. And of course in the build-up to The Tour itself you’ll be able to download the official Race Manual containing ETAs for all eight stages.

Keep checking the news section of the website to stay up-to-date with all the latest developments and announcements about The Tour of Britain.

And if you fancy sampling a Tour of Britain route first hand, then keep visiting www.tourride.co.uk for more information on the official Tour of Britain sportives taking place in July, August and September.