Altrincham Manchester

In a welcome break from tradition, the Tour eschews its usual finish in the southern half of the UK and caters for fans north of the M25. There’s a whole section on the Tour’s official website that explains how the route and host towns are chosen, and a maximum average stage length of 180km is just one of the UCI rules that organisers have to consider, as well as how much host towns are prepared to pay. But surely no-one can begrudge Manchester, home of British Cycling, its second appearance as a host city. The parcours itself is far from a ceremonial procession to the finish with enough lumps, bumps and challenging climbs – amounting to almost 2000 metres of elevation – to keep everyone on their guard. The finishing straight on Deansgate in the heart of the city centre promises a spectacular finale to the previous eight days’ racing.

Director’s notes

Andy Hawes: We had a conversation with the leaders of Greater Manchester and they asked, “Can we do a route through all 10 of our boroughs?” It’s a massive undertaking and it’s going to be a spectacular final stage, one of the best final stages we’ve ever done. It will go through each of the Greater Manchester authorities, which is incredible in itself, and basically be a lap of the city with some climbs thrown in. Of these, the final climb of the day, Ramsbottom Rake, has stretches at 25 per cent, so it’s certainly not going to be an easy parade into Deansgate. I think it’s fair to say the city’s Cycling and Walking Commissioner, a certain Chris Boardman, was involved in the discussions over this one.