STONEHAVEN ABERDEEN

A long, high stage to finish eight days of long, high stages. Leaving the pretty harbour town of Stonehaven, the biggest obstacle is tackled early on, in the shape of the Cairn o’Mount, an infamous Aberdeenshire climb that makes a formidable summit finish in an alternate universe. CyclingPlus paid it a visit back in the Big Ride feature of issue 371. Its summit is 140km from the finish so it’ll be more of an early-stage, easy-on-the-eye curio than anything pivotal to the overall shake-up on the General Classification (GC).

The finale towards Aberdeen is rolling, then downhill into it, and it’s surely a day for the sprinters, but this is far from the old processional circuit in central London that used to close out the Tour of Britain for many years. Having started the race the furthest south it’s ever gone in Penzance, we close out the furthest north, which makes the Tour of Britain the most tour of Britain-y it’s ever been.

“Like Cornwall, we announced this stage in early 2019, so it’s waited a long time for this,” says race director Mick Bennett. “Aberdeen has been a real fan and supporter of bike racing – we’ve brought the Tour Series here three times, and always had great crowds.

“Because of the Covid restrictions we can’t finish on the high street, as we have in the past, but we have a finish on the esplanade, a 1.5km flat road which will make it a likely win for one of the sprinters.”

“This is the toughest Tour of Britain in years,” says Hawes. “If stage 4 hasn’t smashed the race to pieces, the leader’s jersey could change hands multiple times – even on this final stage. It’s going to be one tight race.”