The first stage of the 2019 Ovo Energy Tour of Britain will roll out from Glasgow on Saturday 7th September. Kicking off Britain’s national tour, the inaugural stage will begin in George Square in Glasgow and finish in Dumfries and Galloway.
Leaving from the heart of Scotland’s largest city, it will give a huge number of people the opportunity to see the race get underway.
A regular visitor to Glasgow, this will be the sixth occasion the city has hosted the Ovo Energy Tour of Britain. Most recently there in 2016, on that occasion Andre Greipel won what was also the race’s opening stage. Equally blessed with scenery, Dumfries and Galloway has been an even more regular haunt for the race, hosting stages on nine previous occasions.
The move comes on the back of Glasgow also having secured the UCI Cycling World Championships in 2023. With a new format designed to run once every four years, this event will see disciplines including road, track, mountain bike and BMX brought together in the year before the Olympics.
‘This announcement is a further feather in the cap for Scotland, which has consistently proved itself to be a fantastic host for some of cycling’s biggest events in recent years,’ explained British Cycling Chief Executive, Julie Harrington.
‘The newly-formed Women’s Tour of Scotland, the forthcoming UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Glasgow and, of course, the 2023 world championships all demonstrate the standing with which Scotland is held in the cycling world.’
Ranked at the 2.HC level by the UCI, the Ovo Energy Tour of Britain is the country’s largest free-to-watch sporting event. Last won by Julian Alaphilippe, it runs seperatley from the women’s event which takes place earlier in June.