Cycling’s Tour of Britain for women about to hit road in Borders for first time

Though the men’s version of the tour has visited the region ten times since 2009, including last September, the UK’s biggest professional women’s cycle race, first staged in 2014, hasn’t hit the road in this neck of the woods before, but that oversight is now about to be put right.

Part of the International Cycling Union’s women’s world tour, June 7’s visit is stage three of four making up this year’s Lloyds Bank-sponsored competition.

Like 2024’s men’s tour, its Borders round will start and finish in Kelso’s town square and it will follow a 92-mile route similar to that contested by male riders including Borderer Oscar Onley and stage-winner Paul Magnier nine months ago.

Setting off at 11am and winding up around 3pm, cyclists will go through Smailholm, Melrose, Denholm, Jedburgh and St Boswells, also taking in Scott’s View, Leaderfoot viaduct, Dunion Hill and Dingleton.

Both the Scott’s View and Dingleton climbs will be tackled twice, the former at 11.55am and 2pm and the latter at 12.15pm and 2.20pm, and the day’s other climb, at Dunion Hill, is expected to be negotiated around 12.55pm.

Thousands of fans are expected to turn out to cheer on the likes of European champion Lorena Wiebes, two-time Olympic gold medallist Kristen Faulkner and 2016 and 2019 tour winner Lizzie Deignan.

Ahead of the stage starting, teams will be introduced to spectators in Kelso from 10am and further related activities will follow throughout the day there including a mountain bike display and also at Melrose’s Gibson Park.

A big screen will also be put up in Kelso to enable spectators to follow the action as the cyclists competing make their way around the region.

Coverage will also be broadcast live by BBC Sport.

Dutch rider Wiebes, 26; America’s Faulkner, 32; and West Yorkshire’s Deignan, 36, will be part of a field of 114 also including Australia’s Ruby Roseman-Gannon and Hertfordshire’s Anna Henderson.

Wiebes, ranked third in the world, won one stage of last year’s tour, in Warrington in Cheshire, with 2024’s overall victor, Belgium’s Lotte Kopecky, coming out on top in two, both in Wales, and Roseman-Gannon, 26, finishing the other, in Manchester, first.

This year’s tour is being contested by a record field of 19 teams including a British national side made up of 2018 national road-race champion Jess Roberts, April Tacey, Millie Couzens, Flora Perkins, Anna Morris and Ella MacLean-Howell.

Looking ahead to that six-strong line-up hitting the road, GB senior academy endurance coach Chris Newton said: “It’s fantastic to again have a strong GB team in the Tour of Britain Women.

“It’s a great opportunity to come together as a national team and further develop our current and future stars.

“This year’s course looks tough and well planned to make for an exciting race.

“We are looking to challenge from day one with a strong mix of youth and experience.

“I also know the crowds will be super-supportive.”

Jedburgh councillor Scott Hamilton, Scottish Borders Council’s executive member for economic growth and development, is also looking forward to the tour making its debut here, saying: “As a UCI bike region, we are delighted to be welcoming the Tour of Britain Women to the Borders for the first time and are looking forward to an exciting and spectator-friendly stage.

“With free parking and events and activities in Kelso and Melrose throughout the day, there’s lots to see and do and, of course, the chance to get up close to some of the world’s best cyclists. It’s a day not to be missed.”

Jonathan Day, managing director of race organiser British Cycling Events, added: “Excitement is really building now for this year’s Tour of Britain Women and the start of the race.

“We have a fantastic line-up of teams and riders who will be racing through communities across our four stages.

“We know the Borders stage well from the men’s event, so we are eagerly anticipating what a great stage this will be and the key part it will play in deciding who wins.”

2025’s tour starts at Dalby Forest in North Yorkshire next Thursday and that 53-mile stage will see cyclists head up to Redcar on the North Sea coast via Pickering, Hutton-le-Hole, Great Ayton and Guisborough.

Stage two the day after is a 75-mile ride along more of the same coastline from Hartlepool to Saltburn-by-the-Sea via Billingham and Yarm, also returning to Guisborough, before the tour heads north to Scotland.

Proceedings will wrap up with a five-mile stage in Glasgow on Sunday, June 8, starting and finishing on the city’s green.

For further details, go to https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/tourofbritain/women