The Tour of Britain gets under way next weekend with a stage from Glasgow to Castle Douglas. The stars of cycling will be competing on the city’s streets, including five times Olympic gold medalist Sir Bradley Wiggins.
The 2016 Tour of Britain begins on Sunday, September 4, in Glasgow and continues for eight days of racing concluding on Sunday, September 11 in London.
A total of 20 teams will take part, each with a maximum of six riders. Ten of those teams are from the top-flight World Tour, including British squad Team Sky.
Several of the top-level teams will field their UK riders. Mark Cavendish, Steve Cummings (Dimension Data), Ian Stannard (Sky), Sir Bradley Wiggins (Team Wiggins) and Alex Dowsett (Movistar) have all been confirmed so far.
International riders André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal), Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin), Rohan Dennis (BMC) and Taylor Phinney (BMC) have also been named.
Deputy Leader of Glasgow City Council and Chair of Glasgow Life, Councillor Archie Graham OBE, said: “Cycling has been at the heart of Glasgow’s rise as one of the world’s top sporting cities in recent years and we are looking forward to welcoming some top cyclists back to the city for the Tour of Britain Grand Depart.”
Having last welcomed the Tour of Britain in 2008, Glasgow will be building on the success of hosting the Commonwealth Games and British National Road Race Championships in recent years.
It will be the eighth time that Dumfries and Galloway has hosted a stage finish of Britain’s biggest professional cycle race, and the third time that Castle Douglas has welcomed a finish of the race. Outside of London no other region has hosted as many stage finishes since the Tour of Britain was revived in 2004.
Paul Bush OBE, VisitScotland’s Director of Events, said: “We are delighted that the first stage of the Tour of Britain will take place in Scotland for the fifth time in 2016 and we are sure that cycling enthusiasts from all of the country will be keen to turn out in support of all competitors.
“Scotland is the perfect stage for cycling events and Glasgow city centre will provide a fantastic setting for the riders as they push off on the first of eight days of competition, before encountering the scenic and challenging countryside of Dumfries and Galloway.”
From Glasgow the peloton will head south through Kilmarnock and Ayrshire as they make their way towards Dumfries and Galloway. Passing Loch Doon and Loch Ken as they skirt the outsides of the Galloway Forest Park the finish will be in the town centre of Castle Douglas after 161km of racing.
Spectators have been invited to watch the event from George Square. Most of the roads in the city centre will be closed from 4am to 8pm on 4th September.
These roads include Albion Street, Anchor Lane, Argyle Street between Union Street and Queen Street, Bridgegate between King Street and Saltmarket, parts of Clyde Street, Cochrane Street and High Street.