Women’s Tour To Pass Through Belper

Top women cyclists from around the world are to take to Derbyshire’s roads on Saturday the 10th  of June, to battle it out for first place in the penultimate stage of the hotly-contested race.

As the Tour’s toughest stage, it will take in a wide mix of rural and urban areas. Stage four of the race will start and finish at Chesterfield before going through some of the county’s best-known market towns including Belper, Bolsover and Wirksworth. See what the peloton have to tackle here.

On the 24th of March organisers named the locations of some of the stage’s most exciting elements − the Eisberg Sprints and SKODA Queen of the Mountains sections.

Eisberg Sprints will take place in Belper and Staveley, while the SKODA Queen of the Mountains climbs will be in Crich and Middleton Top. Final details will be confirmed in May.

Mick Bennett, race director for The Women’s Tour said: “We’re delighted to be returning to Chesterfield and Derbyshire after the success of last year’s stage. With the stage coming on a weekend we’re hoping it will be even bigger and better than ever.”

 

The cabinet member for highways, transport and infrastructure Councillor Dean Collins said: “Bringing this prestigious race back to Derbyshire is a great opportunity for us to showcase the county on an international stage.

“The best cyclists from around the world will be competing to win what’s going to be a very tough stage and I’d urge everyone to get involved.

Women’s secretary of the Bolsover and District Cycling Club, Jay Stocks, said the whole club was excited to see the race coming to their “patch” and would be out in force to support it.

She said: “It’s even more accessible because it’s on a Saturday this time, so more people will be able to come and see it.

“We have some cracking hills around here with amazing views and we’ll be riding the route ourselves before the race.”

The top 15 teams in the world will all be taking part in the thrilling race, which is a part of the UCI Women’s WorldTour. Onlookers will be able to cheer the world’s number one team Boels Dolmans and defending race champion Lizzie Deignan who achieved incredible victories in 2016.

In addition the British-based Drops and Sheffield-based WNT teams will complete the 17-team field.

Highlights of every stage will be broadcast on ITV4 and available on demand via the ITV Hub.

Images courtesy of The Tour and SweetSpot