Cycling great to race through Warwickshire
CYCLING
MARK Cavendish, one of Britain’s most successful riders of all time, has been named in Team Dimension Data’s six-man line-up for the Ovo Energy Tour of Britain, it has been confirmed.
And the ten-time Tour of Britain stage winner will be joined on the team by the 2016 champion, Steve Cummings.
The South African team’s roster will also feature Cavendish’s long-standing team-mate Mark Renshaw, as well as Julien Vermote.
The prestigious event will be returning to Warwickshire on Friday, 13th September when stage seven will start at Warwick Racecourse.
Cavendish’s ten Tour victories is a record, and includes three in the 2012 and 2013 editions of the race.
The Manxman’s return to the Tour of Britain, which starts in Glasgow on Saturday, comes after he missed the 2018 race through illness.
It will be Cavendish’s tenth participation in his home Tour.
The Tour of Britain's seventh stage will travel through all five districts and boroughs of Warwickshire for the first time, hosted by Warwickshire County Council with support from Warwick District Council, Stratford-on-Avon District Council, Rugby Borough Council and North Warwickshire Borough Council and will once again end in Burton Dassett Country Park.
The 186.5km route includes Warwick, Kenilworth, the University of Warwick, Meriden, Fillongley, Atherstone, Mancetter, Hartshill, Galley Common, Corley, Bedworth, Bulkington, Brinklow, Long Lawford, Bilton, Dunchurch, Kites Hardwick, Princethorpe, Ashorne, Wellesbourne, Ettington, Edgehill, Warmington, Temple Herdewyke and three ascents of Burton Dassett on a 12km route.
The peloton will head up towards Meriden via Kenilworth and Berkswell, before travelling across North Warwickshire to Bedworth and Bulkington.
Riders will then head south towards Brinklow and the outskirts of Rugby, and back up to Princethorpe before racing along Fosse Way, down to Wellesbourne and through Ettington and Edgehill.
Three Eisberg Sprints await competitors during the stage, the first at Berkswell, the second at Brinklow, and the third at Pillerton Priors.
Competitors will then face three Skoda King of the Mountain challenges in a gruelling final stretch including two full loops of Burton Dassett County Park before crossing the tour’s first-ever hill top finish line.
More details on the route can be found at www.tourofbritain.co.uk/stages/stage-seven
