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2015 Tour of Britain: Details announced of opening stage

By Cycling News

published 5 August 2015

Race begins in Wales for the first time

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The 2014 Tour of Britain podium: Michal Kwiatkowski, Dylan van Baarle and Bradley Wiggins(Image credit: Rob Lampard)

Simon Yates (Great Britain) celebrates victory in stage 6 at the Tour of Britain on the Haytor mountain finish(Image credit: Rob Lampard)

Martin Elmiger (IAM Cycling) finishes second on stage 6 and moves into second overall on the Tour of Britain general classification(Image credit: Rob Lampard)

The details of the opening stage of this year’s Aviva Tour of Britain have been announced by the local organisers, with some stiff climbs on the agenda on the road from Anglesey before a fast run-in to the finish in Wrexham in northern Wales.

The year marks the first time that the current iteration of the Tour of Britain, which began in 2004, has started in Wales. The opening stage takes place on Sunday, September 6 begins in Beaumaris and follows a 40-kilometre loop around the island of Anglesey before crossing to the mainland via the Menai bridge.

After an intermediate sprint at Llanberis, where Mark Cavendish claimed a stage win in 2013, the race climbs the category one Llanberis pass, the first classified climb of the Tour of Britain. After dropping into Conwy County, the next climb is the four-kilometre haul up Nant-y-Glyn.

The day’s second intermediate sprint is at Pentre Llanhaeadr, and is followed shortly afterwards by the ascent of the Bwlch in the Clwydian Hills. The day’s final intermediate sprint is in Mold, 20 kilometres from the finish in Wrexham. The finale features a loop around the centre of Wrexham before the finish on Chester Street.

The night before the opening stage, the Tour of Britain team presentation will take place in Parc Eirias in Colwyn Bay.

Stage 2 of the Tour of Britain brings the peloton from Clitheroe to Colne and includes the tough climb of Nick O’Pendle. Stage finishes in Kelso, Blyth, Hartside Pass, Nottingham and Ipswich follow before the final criterium in London on Sunday, September 13.

Last year’s Tour of Britain was won by Dylan van Baarle.