The Tour of Britain Newsletter

02.09.2010

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Welcome to the Official Tour of Britain Newsletter, presented by Outsourcery, the UK’s leading provider of unified communications and hosted IT solutions for business.

With just over a week to until The Tour of Britain you can now download the full provisional start list, from here on the website, which contains World, Olympic and Commonwealth Champions, plus stage winners from all three Grand Tours.

The Race Manual is now online here, so you can download this comprehensive guide to The Tour of Britain and check out the ETAs and precise details of each stage.

To make sure you have all the details you need for spectating at The Tour, there are also more detailed stage maps now available, allowing you to get more detail than ever before on each of the stages, thanks to Ordnance Survey, our Official Mapping Partner, and their OpenSpace platform.

Just head to the ‘Route’ section of the website and click on the ‘View Route Map’ tab on the right hand side of the page, which will launch a map allowing you to zoom in on the route right up to 1:50 000 Ordnance Survey Landranger scale.

This weekend also sees The Prostate Cancer Charity South West Tour Ride taking place on Sunday. Online registrations have now closed but people will be able to sign up to ride alongside the likes of comedian David Schneider and Olympic gold medallist, Daley Thompson, on Saturday from 2pm in Minehead and Teignmouth and on the day itself.

There’s still time to sign up for The Prostate Cancer Charity Tour Rides in London and Stoke-on-Trent by clicking here, giving cyclists of all ages and abilities the chance to Unite ByCycling and measure themselves against the professionals riding The Tour of Britain.

Swansea

If you’re thinking of visiting Swansea for the exciting finish of Stage Three, then don’t forget to bring your own bike!

Whether you enjoy on or off road action, Swansea Bay can offer you an exciting opportunity to get on your bike. Start with a gentle ride along the sweep of Swansea Bay to Mumbles (famous for its castle, pier and ice cream!) – this route recently featured in the Daily Telegraph as one of the best cycling trails in the UK. Many routes are part of the National Cycle Network and include traffic free and family friendly trails along the coast, rivers, through woodland and countryside.

If you prefer more extreme bike action, then look no further than Afan Forest Park. Voted amongst the world's 'Top 10 Places to Ride' by ‘What Mountain Bike’ magazine, Afan boasts approximately 14 miles of off-road cycle routes, including the mighty 'Wall'.

For an on road challenge the Gower Peninsula has both quiet lanes and steep hills to take your breath away – and if the hills don’t, then the views across this coast and countryside certainly will (you’ll soon understand why Gower was the first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the UK)! Just watch out for any traffic – and sheep – and wild horses, which may also be sharing the road! A good way to get into Gower groove would be to take part in the Gower Cycling Festival (18th – 25th September 2010).

For more information go to visitswanseabay.com/biking, where you can also download a ‘Walking and Cycling in Rural Swansea’ guide

If you’re leaving the bike at home, there’s still plenty to do, for all the latest on what to see and do go to visitswanseabay.com

Win with Transport for London

In just a few weeks Transport for London will once again proudly host the dramatic final stage of The Tour of Britain. 100 riders from around the world will race eight laps of a grueling 12km circuit taking in the historic dockyards of East London, the Thames Barrier, Canary Wharf and much of the Olympic and Paralympic Borough of Newham.

Win VIP access

For an unforgettable day at the Tour enter our competition for a chance to win exclusive VIP hospitality tickets for you and three of your friends. Just answer one question before 3 September and you could be enjoying full VIP treatment including access to the Team compounds, early access to the Tour of Britain Hospitality Village and an unbeatable view of the race from a VIP only viewing area. Enter here.

There’s more than just world class cycling on offer. To help you make a day of it a food festival with a maritime theme is taking place alongside the race. This free event at the Royal Victoria Dock is just a short walk along the waterfront from the start line. There will be stallholders from across London, local food producers, entertainers and a live music stage. The Barclays Cycle Hire roadshow will also be on hand showcasing London’s newest public transport option, Barclays Cycle Hire. A firework display at 20:45 will close the festival.

You can get into the spirit of the event by cycling to the race along one of London’s new Barclays Cycle Superhighways. These are new cycle routes into central London from outer London which provide cyclists with safer and faster journeys into the city. Route CS3 runs from Barking to Tower Gateway giving you direct access to the action.

Newham Waterfront Festival

Newham, the host Olympic borough, will host its inaugural Waterfront Festival alongside the final stage of The Tour of Britain, from 11am-9pm.

This exciting explosion of colour, music and laughter will be held at the Royal Victoria Dock by ExCel and will provide the perfect accompaniment to the day’s cycling extravaganza.

It will combine the finest local foods as well as a live music line-up fresh from the stages of Glastonbury.

The Festival will also welcome some of the best international street theatre performers, including stilt walking pirates and breathtaking juggling. There’ll also be an inflatable 18-metre long beached whale, which children will be regaled with stories from dwellers within.

Food lovers can feast on freshly caught salmon from nearby Billingsgate Market, as well as cheeses from the South West, sizzling sausages from the Lake District and crusty baked bread and pastries from Borough Market.

Music maestros Swing Zazou and Los Albertos will be among the bands performing during the day and residents will no doubt get into the swing by jiving along to 1930s jumping jazz and folk tunes.

Newham Mayor Sir Robin Wales said: “This free festival will showcase the very best of the borough as we look forward to the 2012 Games.

“Newham is already the first choice for a number of tops sports competitions and the Waterfront Festival will encourage people to spend a day at the docks after watching the final stage of the prestigious Tour of Britain.”

Fireworks will bring the event to a close shortly before 9pm with a dazzling display over the water as the Royal Victoria Dock footbridge takes centre stage in what promises to be a spectacular show.

*The Festival is organised by Newham Council, sponsored by ExCeL, and will run from 11am to 9pm. For more information on how to get there call 020 8430 2000 or visit www.waterfrontfestival.co.uk

Outsourcery

Outsourcery is the UK’s leading provider of mobile-centric unified communications (UC) and Hosted IT solutions for business and is Microsoft’s Worldwide ‘Hosting Solutions Partner of the Year’ 2010.

As the Official Technology Partner for The Halfords Tour Series, The Prostate Cancer Charity Tour Rides and the cornerstone of the British cycling calendar, The Tour of Britain, Outsourcery is providing IT applications and support for the complex logistics of these exciting events and will continue to work with The Tour Team after the events come to an end on 18th September 2010 in London.

Piers Linney, Joint Chief Executive Officer at Outsourcery, said “Outsourcery is extremely pleased to be the Official Technology Partner for this year’s Tour of Britain and Prostate Cancer Charity Tour Rides. We like our bikes and our team features serious road cyclists and mountain bikers as well as those that ride bikes for fun or to commute. The Tour of Britain requires complicated logistics to organise the eight-day race across the UK and a team of staff that grows from 15 to 600 during the races. Our hosted solutions can be combined to provide cost-effective, mobile and flexible IT and communications solutions that can keep pace with the riders and the many others following the race. The profile of those involved in or interested in cycling fits our target audience of business decision makers.

“We are also keen to raise Outsourcery’s profile as the #1 Microsoft Hosting Partner in the world and the material benefits that hosted IT and communications solutions offer businesses of all sizes. Cycling is the second fastest growing sport and past time in Britain and the health and well-being benefits of involvement in cycling are obvious. The races are also an exciting opportunity for staff to get involved in such a sporting spectacle.”

For more information, please visit www.outsourcery.co.uk or follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/outsourcery.