Wrexham to host Tour of Britain stage with Start and Finish in 35 days time

Sixteen of the world’s leading teams, including Tour de France champions Jumbo – Visma and home fan favourites INEOS Grenadiers, will compete in this year’s Tour of Britain with Wrexham set to host a same day stage starting and finishing in the city in just 35 days time.

Wrexham Council had previously announced £154,000 of funding to host just the stage finish, with that alone projected to return a potential £4 million boost to the local economy.

Last week we asked Wrexham Council about the new addition to the plan with a start now confirmed, if there was any additional costs and benefits to the area for the extra unknown investment- and if any costs were impacted by the recent budget black hole.

We also asked about local cycle themed events, and specifically school engagement, for the stage that is just over a month away. Some schools are due back on the 1st or 4th, with the event on Monday 4th, we enquired if work had already taken place to enable as much interaction as possible.

We also asked if there had been a route confirmed, as well as inviting any wider comment, context – or any information possible to share.

Wrexham Council did not reply.

There is no information yet on the Council’s website that we can spot – in contrast to a dedicated page on Nottingham’s site who host the event two days after Wrexham. The Nottingham page gives a detailed route, a dedicate newsletter sign up, plus details of district council events. There are also a range of competitions for kids to get involved in such as designing the start flag (and wave it!) plus creating trophies and jerseys. Best dressed villages are also encouraged on the route.

Thankfully The Tour are more proactive and have detailed the teams and stages involved. It is the 19th edition of the UK’s most prestigious cycling race, which begins in Greater Manchester on Sunday 3 September, and culminates with what promises to be a spectacular finale in South Wales eight stages later.

The 16 teams competing in the Tour of Britain 2023 are:

• Bingoal WB (Belgium)
• Bolton Equities Black Spoke (New Zealand)
• BORA – hansgrohe (Germany)
• Equipo Kern Pharma (Spain)
• Global 6 Cycling (New Zealand)
• Great Britain Cycling Team (Great Britain)
• INEOS Grenadiers (Great Britain)
• Jumbo – Visma (Netherlands)
• Movistar Team (Spain)
• Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team (Switzerland)
• Saint Piran (Great Britain)
• TDT – Unibet Cycling Team (Netherlands)
• Team dsm – firmenich (Netherlands)
• Team Flanders – Baloise (Belgium)
• TRINITY Racing (Great Britain)
• Uno-X Pro Cycling Team (Norway)

A predicted 1.5 million spectators are expected to watch these teams in action at this year’s race, capitalising on the free-to-attend nature of the event.

INEOS Grenadiers, the second most successful team in modern race history, will look to go one better than the previous two editions of the Tour, in which British stars Ethan Hayter (2021) and Olympic champion Tom Pidcock (2022) finished as runners-up.

The return of Jumbo – Visma to the race will further whet the appetite, given the Dutch team have won the Tour of Britain on three occasions – twice with Lars Boom (2011, 2017) and once with Belgian star Wout Van Aert (2021). The team also sits fourth in the all-time list of stage wins, having had their riders cross the line first on 14 occasions.

Boom is one of just two riders to win multiple editions of the race, although no rider has ever claimed back-to-back titles. That run could end in September, as Movistar – the team of the 2022 champion Gonzalo Serrano – are set to compete in their 10th consecutive Tour of Britain, with this year’s route suiting last year’s winner.

Bolton Equities Black Spoke (New Zealand), Equipo Kern Pharma (Spain), Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team (Switzerland), and the TDT – Unibet Cycling Team (Netherlands) will all appear in the UK’s leading cycle race for the first time in September. The participation of three teams – a Great British national squad and the country’s two leading domestic squads (Saint Piran and TRINITY Racing) – was announced in May.

Mick Bennett, Tour of Britain race director, said: “We’ve assembled a really exciting and eclectic mix of teams for this year’s Tour of Britain. From Movistar, the team of defending champion Gonzalo Serrano, and the world’s number two and three-ranked squads to some of the sport’s most promising up-and-coming outfits, we’re counting down the days until they begin racing on British roads!”

No comment was avalible from Wrexham Council.

The 2023 race starts in Greater Manchester and finishes eight days later in South Wales. Along the way, riders will race through North Wales, East Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Suffolk, Essex, and Gloucestershire.

ITV4 will continue to broadcast live flag-to-flag coverage of every stage and nightly highlights show, allowing fans in the UK to watch wherever they are. The race will also be shown in over 150 countries worldwide, thanks to the event’s partnerships with Eurosport and the Global Cycling Network.

While spectators can watch all the action by the roadside for free, race day hospitality packages offering guaranteed prime views of stage starts and finishes, as well as unforgettable experiences featuring Tour de France stage winner Dan Martin are now available via sportsbreaks.com/Cycling and destinationsportexperiences.com/Cycling/Hospitality for more information.

Details on those pages state a 10am start in Wrexham, and a finish around 3-4pm, with grandstands and big screens set up at the start / finish.

Tour of Britain Stages
Stage one Sunday 3 September Altrincham to Manchester
Stage two Monday 4 September Wrexham to Wrexham
Stage three Tuesday 5 September Goole to Beverley
Stage four Wednesday 6 September Sherwood Forest to Newark-on-Trent
Stage five Thursday 7 September Felixstowe to Felixstowe
Stage six Friday 8 September Southend-on-Sea to Harlow
Stage seven Saturday 9 September Tewkesbury to Gloucester
Stage eight Sunday 10 September Margam Country Park to Caerphilly