Route unveiled for next year's Devon Tour of Britain stage
The route's been unveiled for the Devon stage of next year's cycling Tour of Britain - which riders based in the county say will be a 'challenge'.
Last updated 7th Sep 2020
This time the race won't pass through Cheddar Gorge in Somerset, but will involve stages in Cornwall and Devon before likely heading to Wales.
The race was due to start this weekend, but has been pushed back 12 months because of the pandemic.
Stuart Hughes from Devon County Council says there'll be a sprint section next to Slapton Sands 'which will see pictures of our iconic coastline beamed around the world'.
Devon will host stage two of the 2021 Tour of Britain on Monday 6 September with a 185 kilometre (115 mile) route between Sherford and Exeter - the twelfth stage to have been hosted by Devon since 2008.
The typically hilly Devon stage includes 3,500 metres of ascent and will visit the South Hams for the first time since 2012 - combining the beautiful south Devon coast with the testing climbs of Dartmoor, before a finish on Queen Street in Exeter city centre.
Councillor Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council Cabinet Member with responsibility for cycling, said: "We’ve got a year to prepare for the Devon stage of the 2021 Tour of Britain so we want to make it the biggest and best ever and try to inspire even more people to take to two wheels.
"Next year’s stage should be a good challenge for the world’s best riders.
"It would be fantastic to see the likes of the Yates brothers racing on Devon’s roads once again and it will provide a very welcome boost for our local economy.
"We always try to make it a special occasion when The Tour of Britain comes to Devon and it’s great to hear that one of our local professional riders, Freddie Scheske, was inspired by watching one of the Devon Stages on Dartmoor a few years ago - hopefully next year he will have the opportunity to compete in The Tour of Britain."
The route will feature three intermediate Sprints, the first of which will come at Torcross as the route crosses the road along the narrow shingle bar that separates Slapton Ley from the sea, with the remaining Sprints in Kingsbridge and Tavistock.
Three 'King of the Mountains' climbs will also feature, the first on the coast at Strete at the end of a two kilometre climb from Blackpool Sands
The second and third 'King of the Mountains' climbs both come in the Dartmoor National Park, the first the 8.7 kilometre climb of Rundlestone above Tavistock, which has been used by the Tour of Britain twice before (2010 and 2012).
The final categorised climb will be between Postbridge and the famous Warren House Inn, one of the most famous locations on Dartmoor and at 434m (1,425ft) above sea level the highest inn in southern England - where the pub’s fire has famously been burning since 1845.
It will be the eleventh year that Devon has featured in the Tour of Britain, with more than 1.7 million people having lined the routes in Devon to watch the stages, generating over £41 million in net economic impact for the local economy.
Present at the launch event on the quayside in Exeter were Devon based professional cyclists were Natasha Reddy (Bianchi Dama) and Freddie Scheske (Vitus Pro Cycling p/b Brother UK), who are both studying at Exeter University.
"It’s the biggest race in Britain and would be a dream come true to race in it," said Freddie Scheske.
"If I could ride the 2021 Tour of Britain it would be the biggest cycling achievement of my life, the run in goes past my university halls, so I know that road very well.
"It’s very inspirational and very motivational for me to keep training knowing that there will be a race here and I could be riding it."
"I looked at the profile and thought not too bad, but it’s going to be absolutely savage and relentless. There’s no flat to recover or freewheel on, you’re either going up full gas or you’re trying to make up gaps on the descent, so you never get into a rhythm."
Speaking about having the Tour of Britain come to Devon and Exeter, Bianchi Dama’s Natasha Reddy said; "I know the route coming back into Exeter like the back of my hands. The route is my training roads and one of my favourite bits of Devon to ride, so I’ll definitely be riding round on the day trying to watch in as many places as I can!
"From Tavistock back to Exeter it will be fast, it’s usually a tailwind across the moor but then there are some short, sharp climbs at Doccombe and Dunsford and they’re not to be overlooked."