Women's Tour of Scotland announced for 2019

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A three-day Women's Tour of Scotland has been confirmed for the 2019 calendar and is scheduled for August 9-11. The race would clash with the European Championships and sits just before the Vargarda WestSweden team time trial and one-day events.

The race has been entered into the UCI’s official calendar and is slated as a 2.1 event, putting it at the same level as the two-day Tour de Yorkshire.

It will be the fourth UCI-ranked women’s race in Britain, alongside the Ovo Energy Women’s Tour, the RideLondon Classique and the Tour de Yorkshire. The inclusion of the Women’s Tour of Scotland means that there will be an equal number of UCI-ranked races in Britain for the men’s and women’s pelotons.

The official route is due to be announced in the coming weeks but organisers have said that the event will take place ‘across Scotland’. The total distance of the race is set to be 350 kilometres, making it an average of 116 kilometres per-stage.

Scotland is a popular place for cycling and hosts sportive events such as the Etape Caledonia, Etape Loch Ness, Tearfund Drumlanrig Challenge and the Marmotte Ecosse Gran Fondo.

Behind the race are the companies Zeus Sport and Sport for Television. Zeus Sport organises a number of sportive events, including the London to Paris rides, while Sport for Television is a sports event management company which has coordinated World Championships, National Tour races and City Centre Cycling events. The venture also has the backing of British Cycling, Scottish Cycling and the VisitScotland tourism board.

"Scotland’s reputation as a destination for hosting international sporting events just keeps on growing and we’re confident that the Women’s Tour of Scotland will only help to strengthen and build on this. We want to raise awareness of female cycling on a global scale and there’s no better backdrop than the Scottish landscape to show off the sport at its best," Zeus Sports managing director Darren Clayton said in a press release.

"We’ll be working with stakeholders across the next few months from EventScotland, to Scottish Cycling and local businesses to ensure the event sets a strong precedent for years to come. We look forward to revealing the full race route through Scotland over the coming months and getting local communities behind the event ahead of next August."

A mass-participation event will run alongside the women’s elite event, with organisers expecting around 5,000 people to take part.