Where does Tour of Britain fit in?

The Tour of Britain forms part of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Europe Tour. The Europe Tour is made up of a whole list of cycling events that cycling teams from around the world can participate in.

To add to this, the UCI Europe Tour is one of five groups created by the UCI that make up the Continental Circuit. As of 2005, some 450 high level road races make up the UCI Continental Circuit.

According to the UCI, the purpose of theses five Continental Circuits is to encourage the expansion of cycling everywhere in the world.

Currently there are four types of cycling teams that are allowed to take part in the UCI Continental Circuit and they are:

• Professional teams
• Continental teams
• National teams
• Regional teams

Participation rules from the UCI define the races at which the various teams from around the world are allowed to take part in.

Riders taking part in races on the Continental Circuits each earn themselves points, depending on where they finished in a particular race, which are then tallied giving the rider an individual ranking, as well as a ranking for his team and for his country on the UCI Europe Tour and World Ranking tables. The rider in the first place of the individual ranking of the continental circuit at the end of the season will be crowned the winner of his circuit.