After months of doubt over whether or not it might happen, the Tour of Britain Girls will get underway in Welshpool, Wales on Thursday.
The four-stage race takes place in north Wales and the north-west of England, with 4 Girls’s WorldTour current on the race, in addition to a powerful Nice Britain workforce, and all six British girls’s Continental groups.
Two-time Girls’s Tour champion Lizzie Deignan heads up the GB choice, backed by Welsh duo Elinor Barker and Elynor Bäckstedt who will get the chance to race on dwelling roads within the nationwide workforce jersey.
Anna Henderson, Flora Perkins and Millie Couzens full the roster and can bolster GB as they go up in opposition to 4 WorldTour groups, together with SD Worx-Protime.
Talking to Biking Weekly, Bäckstedt mentioned that she felt SD Worx, headed up by world champion Lotte Kopecky, could be the favourites, however made clear that she backed her teammates, led by Deignan, to push all of them the way in which.
“We will certainly have a extremely sturdy workforce there,” she mentioned. “As Group GB we could have a gaggle of such sturdy riders there, and simply come out in full drive actually. I believe we positively have gotten a great probability general, and we have got a great probability at every of the phases.
“So we’ll positively give it our greatest shot and race one of the best we are able to as a workforce and simply actually showcase the expertise that GB has coming by in the meanwhile.
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“We have identified one another a very long time. I’ve obtained my common teammate, Lizzie, within the workforce, which is very nice. And loads of the women I’ve both grown up with, or I’ve raced World Championships with earlier than…All of us simply wish to do one of the best for ourselves and likewise attempt to show the racing expertise of our nation.”
The four-day route will see the ladies’s peloton deal with a wide range of terrain. The primary two phases in Wales will present hillier exams, earlier than the riders deal with much less demanding climbing on the ultimate two days.
Bäckstedt mentioned that she felt the route put collectively will actually “showcase” British roads in the absolute best manner.
“I believe it is going to make for some actually exhausting racing,” she mentioned. “There’s some actually powerful phases… It’s a powerful nation to race your bike in and that is what makes it so enjoyable. I would discover among the climbs somewhat bit difficult, however I will have loads of enjoyable all through all of it.
“Having two phases in Wales is clearly actually nice. There’s nothing fairly like racing in Wales particularly, it is simply so completely different and it is so good to have a Welsh crowd there as properly.”
Tour of Britain Girls 2024 phases
| Stage | Date | Begin | End | KM |
| 1 | Thurs June 6 | Welshpool | Llandudno | 142.5 |
| 2 | Fri June 7 | Wrexham | Wrexham | 140.2 |
| 3 | Sat June 8 | Warrington | Warrington | 106.8 |
| 4 | Solar June 9 | Nationwide Biking Centre, Manchester | Leigh, Higher Manchester | 99 |
Tour of Britain Girls 2024 riders to look at
(Picture credit score: Getty Pictures)
Lotte Kopecky (Bel) SD Worx-Protime
*****
All eyes will probably be on world champion Kopecky, the extensively touted greatest rider on the planet proper now. She’ll be simple to identify too, with these rainbow bands and really doubtless in all the great strikes. The customarily-lumpy course performs to her strengths and it may a concerted effort from her rivals to stop her strolling away with a number of phases in addition to the GC.
Anna Henderson (GBr) Visma-Lease a motorcycle
***
Of the big-name Nice Britain workforce, Henderson has had one of the best – and worst – season thus far, with some promising placings within the massive Classics – eleventh at Amstel Gold, 14th at Liège-Bastogne-Liège – earlier than breaking her collarbone on stage two of the ladies’s Vuelta. She has been placing in some massive coaching weeks just lately although, and the TOBW will probably be her first race again.
Eluned King (GBr) Lifeplus-Wahoo
***
The Tour of Britain Girls is a step up from the CiCLE Basic and the Lincoln Grand Prix, the place the Welsh 21-year-old got here in first and sixth respectively earlier this season. However displaying properly in these races and being extra aware of the grippy GB roads than a lot of her rivals at TOBW will stand her in good stead.
(Picture credit score: Getty Pictures / Alex Broadway)
Pfeiffer Georgi (GBr) dsm-firmenich PostNL
****
The London-born rider is commonly discovered kicking out massive watts within the service of her workforce’s sprinter Charlotte Kool, however the lumpy TOBW parcours doesn’t mean a bunch end day-after-day – it appears doubtless Georgi will probably be given the liberty to battle for a stage of her personal someplace alongside the way in which. Third within the latest Paris-Roubaix suggests she is greater than able to doing so.
Georgia Baker (Aus) Liv-AlUla-Jayco
***
Reigning Commonwealth Video games champion Baker has had a fruitful time since signing to what was then BikeExchange-Jayco in 2022. She has but to win but in 2024, nevertheless it has been a fruitful season thus far with quite a few excessive placings for the all-rounder, who can each end quick and knock out a good time trial. The TOBW’s lumpy terrain will present an incredible alternative for her so as to add her first victory in 2024.
