PENZANCE BODMIN

This year marks the first time in the 18 editions of the modern Tour of Britain that it pays Cornwall a visit. Because of the pandemic and the subsequent cancellation of the 2020 race it’s had to wait a little longer than planned – it’s two and a half years since it was revealed as the host of this race! – but it’ll be worth the wait. It’s hard to avoid a hilly ride amid the county’s savage contours and route director Andy Hawes has made no attempts to, suggesting that this is one of the toughest opening stages ever in the ToB. We begin in Cornwall’s most westerly major town, Penzance, and head uphill immediately. Up to St Ives (back in the spotlight again after hosting the summer’s G7 political jamboree) and it’s postcard material, according to Hawes. The climbs – short, sharp and very painful – come thick and fast, as do the big Cornish towns, with Falmouth, Truro, Newquay and St Austell all having brief encounters with the race, as it zig-zags from one coast to another and back again. The finish in Bodmin has a fast run-in followed by a two kilometre drag out of town, which could reduce the peloton and shrink the prospects of a big bunch sprint for the flat finish. Today will be a primer for the peloton as to what they can expect throughout the eight days of racing. There’s close to 3000m of ascent over the day, substantial but only a speck of the total 21,000m across the week. “Some grand tour stages have over 5000m, and our biggest is 3500m, but then our roads are nothing like the continent either,” says Hawes. “They’re heavy, they’re slow. Everybody says you ride 2-3km/h slower here than on the continent.”