Greater Manchester to host final stage of Women's Tour of Britain

Greater Manchester is hosting the final stage of the Women's Tour of Britain today.

The city-region was named the first ever European Capital of Cycling for 2024.

It's expected to be a fast and flat run towards the finish line to see who will be crowned the winner of the overall race.

"We're not just part of the race. We're making the race."

The Great Britain Cycling Team will field a six-strong squad, including former road world champion and winner of the Women’s Tour in 2016 and 2019, Lizzie Deignan and Olympic gold medallist and seven-time track world champion, Elinor Barker.

As well as Barker, Wales will be represented by Elynor Bäckstedt, while Anna Henderson, Millie Couzens and Flora Perkins complete the line-up.

"It feels like a strong squad that we've got here where we can have an impact.

"We're not just part of the race. We're making the race", says Flora Perkins.

Perkins lived in Manchester last year and she told us how she's excited to finish in the region.

She said: "It's nice to finish in the city, there will be a bit of a buzz I think.

"People want to come and watch, you see school children out watching which has always been a marker of this race having watching it in the past.

"It's really cool to finish in Manchester as I lived there last year and I've missed it, so really keen to go."

The race has been split up into four stages:

The tour departed from the heart of mid-Wales, and since the riders have faced a formidable and challenging journey with 2,276m of climbing to endure in the opening stage alone.

The race’s second stage started and finished on Chester Street in Wrexham’s city centre and then the third stage started and finished in front of the iconic Golden Gates of Warrington Town Hall.

From that, the cyclists immediately headed south, crossing the River Mersey and Great Manchester Canal.

Flora Perkins has raced in many different competitions, in the UK and abroad. She's been telling us some of the differences here compared to challenges abroad.

Perkins said: "It's slightly more aggressive racing. It's narrow so you're fighting for position, but there's a lot of domestic teams as well."

The 20-year-old cyclist also believes that women's cycling has grown in the UK.

She said: "There's more women's racing that there used to be at a bigger scale, and there's more continental teams registered. So, I think that's really exciting".

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