After a truncated edition in 2022 due to police having to head off to administer the Queen's funeral, Britain's biggest race - the Tour of Britain - returns for (hopefully) a full run in 2023.
It's a much more compact edition this year with the race taking place mostly in the middle of the country so if you're anywhere south of Manchester and north of Reading you have precious few excuses for not getting to the roadside to cheer on your favourite rider.
Among the riders set to light up the race are previous winner Wout van Aert and 2022 second place finisher Tom Pidcock, who'll hope to go one better in 2023.
Tour of Britain overview
Tour of Britain 2023 route
Stage 1, Sunday 3 September
Route: Greater Manchester to Altrincham
Today's route is near identical to the final stage of the 2019 tour, starting in Altrincham and travelling to Manchester in an anti-clockwise direction taking in the surrounding area’s undulating terrain, including the category two climb of Grains Bar (2.4km at 5.8%) and category one Ramsbottom Rake (1.3km at 8.8%). Those climbs might not sound like much, but together with a number of unclassified rises were enough to significantly reduce the peloton to just a few dozen riders after Ineos Grenadiers applied the pressure.
The race did eventually culminate in a reduced bunch sprint won by Mathieu van der Poel, but not before we were entertained by a relentless flurry of attacks as teams struggled for control.
Expect a similar type of rider to triumph today.
Stage 2, Monday 4 September
Route: Wrexham to Wrexham
At just 109.9km, this is a remarkably short stage by any standards, and as a result could witness some atypical racing. Shorter stages tend to produce more intense racing, with riders able to attack earlier on in the knowledge that they won't have to sustain their efforts for as long.
So although the route doesn’t offer many springboards to launch attacks, travelling westwards across the border and into Cheshire rather than eastwards towards the hills of the Clwydian Range to the west, expect riders to try their luck regardless.
Most important of all will be the Eyton Hill, the category three climb summited with just 18.5km left to ride. It’s close enough to the finish for attackers to fully commit themselves, but will the shallow gradients (averaging only around two and three percent) be enough to establish meaningful gaps?
Stage 3, Tuesday 5 September
Route: Goole to Beverley
Setting off from the small market town of Goole, the riders will head north-eastwards to Bridlington, from where they will travel southwards along the coast and then inland again for a finish in Beverley. For the residents of Beverley, this will be a chance to witness a stage finish after the minster town had previously hosted the beginning of Tour de Yorkshire stages in 2016 and 2018, the former won by Harry Tanfield from a successful break, the latter by Dylan Groenewegen in a sprint.
Much like the course of the town’s famous racecourse, the parcours today before arriving at Beverly is mostly flat, but there are a few potential obstacles to overcome if this is to be a sprint finish. The category three hills up Towthorpe Lane and Langtoft must both be climbed during the first of the stage, and after that comes a stretch of about 35km near the coastline which could, if the wind blows strong and in the right direction, cause echelons. But this should in theory be the most nailed-on stage for the sprinters so far.
Stage 4, Wednesday 6 September
Route: Sherwood Forest to Newark-on-Trent
After setting off from Edwinstone in Sherwood Forest, famous for its association with Robin Hood, the riders face the first to the day’s two category three climbs, Kilton Hill, just 15km into the stage. Then, after briefly crossing into Yorkshire and riding through Haworth, where a monument to Tom Simpsons can be found, they will travel southwards again to tackle the next climb, Red Hill Lane.
There’s a whole 85km between the top of Red Hill Lane and the finish, so plenty of time for the race to settle down for a bunch sprint.
Stage 5, Thursday 7 September
Route: Felixstowe to Felixstowe
Perhaps to make up for the lack of any difficult terrain, the organisers have rendered stage five less straightforward than it would otherwise have been by extending it to a total of 192.4km. That makes it by far the longest stage of the race, and could prevent this from being the predictable sprint stage it looks on paper.
Small undulations in the road that would otherwise have been passed over without a second though will sting the legs of the weaker riders, and being so close to the coast a crosswind could encourage a strong team to the front on any exposed roads.
Stage 6, Friday 8 September
Route: Southend-on-Sea to Harlow
Today’s stage is likely to be the last chance for the sprinters to compete for a stage win. And it should be about as nailed-on for them as any stage in the year’s race — there is only one official climb to be overcome, and it’s only a mild category three one tackled with 46km left between its summit and the finish for the peloton to bring back any optimistic attackers who try to use its shallow gradients to get away.
Stage 7, Saturday 9 September
Route: Tewkesbury to Gloucester
The organisers have made the most of the lumpy terrain of the Cotswolds to devise a route that should be selective, and one of the most important days in the GC race.
There is one climb up the category two Winchcombe Hill just 20km after the roll-out in Tewksbury, but the real action will be reserved for the final 30km. First the category two Crawley Hill, which features a nasty ramp at over 20%, then an uncategorized yet deceptively hard 3km rise to the village of Edge, which includes a similarly sharp ramp of 15%.
Stage 8, Sunday 10 September
Route: Margam Country Park to Caerphilly
The climbs to be taken on might not be especially different than those that have preceded them earlier in the week, but there is still a notable upgrade in terms of severity.
That’s clear when the race heads up to the outskirts of Bannau Brycheiniog (formerly Brecon Beacons) national park to take on the first two climbs of the day, Rhigos and Bryn Du, which have both been designated the maximum difficulty racing of category one.
And after a 35km south-easterly trek from the top of the latter comes a double-ascent of the day’s most important climb, and the one on which the entire fate of the Tour of Britain could be decided — Caerphilly Mountain.
In truth it’s more of a hill than a mountain, lasting just 1.3km, but that’s still enough road for its viscous average gradient of 10% to really sting and force a selection.
Tour of Britain startlist
Movistar Team
DS Max Sciandri
1 Gonzalo Serrano ESP
2 Will Barta USA
3 Imanol Erviti ESP
4 Max Kanter GER
5 Gregor Mühlberger AUT
6 Óscar Rodríguez ESP
INEOS Grenadiers
DS Roger Hammond / Ian Stannard
11 Tom Pidcock GBR
12 Carlos Rodriguez ESP
13 Luke Rowe GBR
14 Connor Swift GBR
15 Josh Tarling* GBR
16 Ben Turner GBR
Bingoal WB
DS Alessandro Spezialetti
21 Floris de Tier BEL
22 Johan Meens BEL
23 Davide Persico* ITA
24 Dimitri Peyskens BEL
25 Lennert Teugels BEL
26 Kenneth van Rooy BEL
Great Britain
DS John Herety / Matt Brammeier
31 Ethan Vernon GBR
32 Jack Brough* GBR
33 Josh Giddings* GBR
34 Noah Hobbs* GBR
35 Oliver Wood GBR
36 Stephen Williams GBR
BORA hansgrohe
DS Jens Zemke / Heinrich Haussler
41 Sam Bennett IRL
42 Patrick Gamper AUT
43 Nils Politt GER
44 Max Schachmann GER
45 Ide Schelling NED
46 Danny Van Poppel NED
Bolton Equities Black Spoke Cycling
DS Franky Van Haesebroucke / Greg Henderson
51 Jacob Scott GBR
52 Matt Bostock GBR
53 James Fouche NZL
54 James Oram NZL
55 Mark Stewart GBR
56 Rory Townsend IRL
Global 6 Cycling
DS James Mitri / Luis Gerrado
61 Nicolas Sessler BRA
62 Giacomo Ballabio ITA
63 Tomoya Koyama JPN
64 Ivan Moreno ESP
65 Callum Ormiston RSA
66 Tom Wirtgen LUX
Jumbo Visma
DS Arthur van Dongen / Maarten Wynants
71 Wout van Aert BEL
72 Edoardo Affini ITA
73 Steven Kruijswijk NED
74 Olav Kooij* NED
75 Jos van Emden NED
76 Nathan van Hooydonck BEL
Equipo Kern Pharma
DS Pablo Urtasun
81 Roger Adrià ESP
82 Igor Arrieta* ESP
83 Iñigo Elosegui ESP
84 José Félix Parra ESP
85 Ibon Ruiz ESP
86 Danny van der Tuuk NED
Saint Piran
DS Steve Lampier / Julian Winn
91 Alexander Richardson GBR
92 Harry Birchill* GBR
93 Finn Crockett GBR
94 Zeb Kyffin GBR
95 Jack Rootkin-Gray* GBR
96 Bradley Symonds GBR
Team dsm - firmenich
DS Matt Winston
101 Tobias Lund Arnesen DEN
102 Patrick Eddy* AUS
103 Enzo Leijnse* NED
104 Niklas Märkl GER
105 Tim Naberman NED
106 Casper van Uden* NED
Q36.5 Pro Cycling
DS Aart Vierhouten / Rik Reinerink
111 Mark Donovan GBR
112 Damian Howson AUS
113 Kamil Malecki POL
114 Nicolò Parisini ITA
115 Joey Rosskopf USA
116 Szymon Sajnok POL
TDT - Unibet
DS Rob Harmeling / Julia Soek
121 Harry Tanfield GBR
122 Joren Bloem NED
123 Davide Bomboi BEL
124 Jordy Bouts BEL
125 Abram Stockman BEL
126 Hartthijs de Vries NED
Team Flanders - Baloise
DS Hans De Clerq / Andy Missotten
131 Kamiel Bonneu BEL
132 Sander De Pestel BEL
133 Milan Fretin* BEL
134 Elias Maris BEL
135 Ward Vanhoof BEL
136 Aaron Verwilst BEL
Trinity Racing
DS Peter Kennaugh / Jon Mould
141 Luke Lamperti* USA
142 Robert Donaldson* GBR
143 Luksas Nerukar* GBR
144 Finlay Pickering* GBR
145 Ollie Reese* GBR
146 Max Walker* GBR
Uno-X Pro Cycling
DS Gino van Oudenhove / Arne Gunnar Ensrud
151 Alexander Kristoff NOR
152 Frederik Dversnes NOR
153 Tord Gudmestad* NOR
154 Tobias Halland Johannssen NOR
155 Ramus Tiller NOR
156 Martin Urianstad NOR
* Denotes eligibility for the young rider jersey as under-23
TOUR of Britain PAST WINNERS IN THE LAST 10 YEARS
2012: Nathan Haas (Aus)
2013: Bradley Wiggins (GBr)
2014: Dylan van Baarle (Ned)
2015: Edvald Boasson Hgen (Nor)
2016: Steve cummings (GBr)
2017: Lars Boom (Ned)
2018: Julian Alaphilippe (Fra)
2019: Mathieu van der Poel (Ned)
2020: No race
2021: Wout van Aert (Bel)
2022: Gonzalo Serrano (Esp)
Tour of Britain jersey guide
Blue: GC leader jersey
The best overall rider in the race calculated by the cumulative time they take on each stage.
Green: cottages.com sprints jersey
The first 10 riders each day get points as follows: 25, 18, 12, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Intermediate sprint points are awarded to the first five riders on a 10, 7, 5, 3 ,1 basis.
Black: Pinarello KOM jersey
First-category climbs give the first 10 riders points in descending order from 10. Second-cat climbs work the same for the first six riders, the first getting six points, while third-cat climbs see the first rider get four points.
White: young rider's jersey
Awarded to the best placed GC rider who is also under-23.
