Cycling’s Tour of Britain to wrap up in Borders for first time
Cycling’s men’s 2026 Tour of Britain is due to wrap up in the Borders at Earlston on Sunday.
That will be the 11th time that the male version of the race has visited the Borders since 2009 but the first time it has finished here.
Sunday’s fifth and final stage of this year’s race, launched south of the border in Lincolnshire today, September 2, will start and finish in Earlston and go through the town four times all together, with its 100-mile route also taking in the Lammermuir Hills, Hume, Greenlaw, Charterhall, Duns, Greenlaw and Gordon.
Stage one’s 116 miles began and ended in Lincoln, with tomorrow’s 115-mile second stage staying in Lincolnshire, going from Boston to Skegness.
Friday’s stage three is scheduled to go 126 miles from Hull to Beverley in East Yorkshire and Saturday’s penultimate 116 miles from Helmsley to Leyburn in North Yorkshire.
This year’s tour is being contested by 108 riders from 18 teams, including the Netherlands’ Olav Kooij and Dylan van Baarle, Belgium’s Tim Merlier, Italy’s Filippo Ganna and Matteo Trentin, Germany’s Nils Politt and Switzerland’s Yannis Voisard.
Ben and Connor Swift – Netcompany Ineos teammates of Kelso’s Oscar Onley, currently taking part in this year’s Vuelta a Espana – are among the English riders competing, along with Matt Bostock, Oliver Wood and Ben Wiggins.
Welcoming the tour’s return, Jedburgh councillor Scott Hamilton, Scottish Borders Council’s executive member for economic growth, said: “This is our first time hosting the final stage of the men’s Tour of Britain and it will be an incredible day of racing action and a fantastic spectacle for residents and visitors not to be missed.”