Four Women’s WorldTour teams will be on the start line for the first edition of the British Cycling-run Tour of Britain Women in June.
The team of the reigning female road World Champion, Lotte Kopecky, are one of the four due to take part in the four day stage race. Pfeiffer Georgi’s dsm-firmenich PostNL are also down to compete, as are Liv ALUla Jayco and Human Powered Health.
The latter three are well established at the top level of women’s cycling while Human Powered Health are in their second season on the Women’s WorldTour.
All six British Continental teams are on the startlist, including Lifeplus-Wahoo, Pro-Noctis - 200° Coffee-Hargreaves Contracting, and DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK. Several other Continental teams will be present including Cofidis, AG Insurance - Soudal, VolkerWessels, St Michel - Mavic - Auber93, Torelli and Alba Development.
AG Insurance - Soudal are due to move to the WorldTour this year but will field a team from their Under 23 development ranks.
The event will get underway in Welshpool, Wales on 6 June before wrapping up in Leigh, Greater Manchester four days later. It will be the first event to be delivered by British Cycling’s new major events arm who will then run the Tour of Britain Men in September.
After committing to the organisation of both races, formerly the Tour of Britain and the Women’s Tour, British Cycling CEO Jon Dutton said that the organisation faced a “race against the clock” to get the Tour of Britain Women on in June.
BC subsequently announced that Rod Ellingworth, formerly of Ineos Grenadiers, would become race director for both events and that the women’s race would need to be shortened this year due to the short time frame the governing body were working to.
"The bigger opportunity is 2025 onwards, and it is fair to say in terms of our ambition, we already have half an eye on 25 and onwards in terms of what the races might look like," Dutton said in February.
"I think what we can say, at this point in time, is that we do not think it will be a six stage race for the Tour of Britain Women [this year] but we're doing everything we can to make sure it's a high quality racing experience. So that's not just about the number of stages, it's about the terrain, the geography, topography, start and finish, and also delivering it economically."
In a release from British Cycling, Ellingworth said that the willingness of the likes of SD Worx to race the event showed that it was valued highly amongst the female peloton.
"We are very excited to see such a strong line-up of teams joining us for the inaugural Tour of Britain Women," he said. "Having the world’s number one team confirmed alongside several others in the global top 10 highlights the significance of this event.
"In addition to the Women’s WorldTour teams, we are thrilled to welcome an exciting mix of UCI Women’s Continental sides. Spectators can look forward to an exhilarating race, and we can’t wait to see them in action next month."
