Four weeks away from the 2025 Lloyds Tour of Britain Men getting underway in East Suffolk, the full route of the biggest men's race in the UK has been announced.
Stage one, between Woodbridge and Southwold in Suffolk, will be 161.4km long and pass through Grundisburgh, Wickham Market, Rendlesham, Snape Maltings, Aldeburgh, Thorpeness, Saxmundham, Framlingham, Halesworth, where there will be an intermediate sprint, then Bungay, Beccles, Wrentham and Reydon.
The next day will see stage two starting and finishing in Stowmarket. Over 169.3km, the peloton will race through Debenham, Bedfield, Stradbroke for an intermediate sprint, Eye, Thurston, Felsham, Babergh, Lavenham, and Sudbury before finishing back in Stowmarket after a classified climb just after Hadleigh, Semer Hill.
The race will then leave Suffolk for stage three, a 122.8km day between Milton Keynes and Ampthill. On the way, Woburn, Toddington, Barton-le-Clay, and Shefford, Northill and Old Warden will all be visited, including a double loop around Northill and Old Warden, with the day's intermediate sprint at the former. There is also a classified climb at Hillfoot near Old Warden, 700m at 5.2%.
Stage four, the longest stage of the race, takes place between Atherstone and Burton Dassett Hills Country Park. The 186.9km-long stage has six classified climbs, the most of any day.
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The route passes through Ansley, Shustoke, and Fillongley, Bedworth, Bulkington, Brinklow, Rugby, Dunchurch, Cubbington for an intermediate sprint, Wellesbourne, Compton Verney, Kineton, Shipston-on-Stour, Upper Brailes, before Burton Dassett Hills is reached.
Sun Rising Hill after Upper Brailes is 10% over 900m, before the climb at the country park is 1.4km at 5.7%. Mathieu van der Poel won there the last time the Tour of Britain came here.
After four stages in England, stage five begins in Pontypool Park in Torfaen, for 133.5km of action with 2,330m of climbing.
The peloton will pass through Usk, Chepstow, Monmouth, Abergavenny, then The Tumble for the first time – 4.9km at 8% – before a descent into Blaenavon and then Pontypool. Usk is then passed through again, before a second time up The Tumble.
After five stages of action, the final day will begin in Newport at the Geraint Thomas National Velodrome of Wales ahead of a 112.2km test. From Newport, riders will race through Risca, Crosskeys, Wattsville, Blaenau Gwent, Ebbw Vale, Tredegar, the Sirhowy Valley, the Rhymney Valley, Bargoed, Nelson, Ystrad Mynach and Caerphilly. The race will then head south to Cardiff after Caerphilly Mountain is tackled (1.4km at 9.7%), where it will finish on North Road alongside Bute Park.
"We have worked hard with our stakeholders across all six stages to create this great route that will build to a real climax as we reach Wales, with the racing for the green jersey sure to go all the way down to the finish line on North Road in Cardiff," Jonathan Day, managing director of British Cycling Events, said.
All stages will begin between 11am and 12pm, and are expected to finish between 2:40pm and 3:30pm.
Adam is Cycling Weekly’s news editor – his greatest love is road racing but as long as he is cycling, he's happy. Before joining CW in 2021 he spent two years writing for Procycling. He's usually out and about on the roads of Bristol and its surrounds.
Before cycling took over his professional life, he covered ecclesiastical matters at the world’s largest Anglican newspaper and politics at Business Insider. Don't ask how that is related to riding bikes.
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