Hill-top finishes at Glenshee Ski Centre in Aberdeenshire and The Needles on the Isle of Wight will bookend the Tour of Britain, which returns for what promises to be a ground-breaking eighteenth modern edition from Sunday 4 to Sunday 11 September.
Building on the success of last year’s race, which saw the overall lead change hands five times in eight days, the battle for victory in the 2022 edition is set to go down to the final pedal strokes once again.
Scotland will host the two opening stages of this year race, with Aberdeen becoming the third Scottish city to host the start when the Tour of Britain’s most northerly Grand Départ to date takes place there on Sunday 4 September.
Not only will this stage feature an entirely new route compared to last year’s finale in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, it will also include the first-ever opening day summit finish in modern race history. The Old Military Road climb from Auchallater to Glenshee measures 9.1 kilometres long, with the final five kilometres averaging a gradient of 4.8%.
The Scottish Borders will host a full stage for the second time in three editions on day two of this year’s race. Hawick, famous for its knitwear and the first whisky distillery to open in the region since 1837, will be the starting point of stage two.
The race’s eighth visit to the Borders will feature a mix of roads old and new to the event, before a first-ever finish in Duns. The stage winner will be crowned in the shadow of the Jim Clark Motorsport Museum, which celebrates the two-time Formula 1 world champion who lived nearby.
The Tour of Britain will then cross the border into England with race comprising the following stages:
- Stage three Tuesday 6 September Durham to Sunderland
- Stage four Wednesday 7 September Redcar to Duncombe Park, Helmsley
- Stage five Thursday 8 September West Bridgford to Mansfield
- Stage six Friday 9 September Tewkesbury to Gloucester
- Stage seven Saturday 10 September West Bay to Ferndown
- Stage eight Sunday 11 September Ryde to The Needles
The Tour of Britain is once again being supported by EventScotland through its International Events Programme.
