Alderley Park to welcome Tour of Britain this September

Bruntwood SciTech’s Alderley Park, in Cheshire, will host the start of stage five of the 2021 Tour of Britain on Thursday 9 September.

The 152-kilometre (95-mile) stage will take in a loop through Cheshire and the fringes of the Peak District National Park before the finish in the heart of Warrington outside the town’s famous Golden Gates.

Situated in more than 400 acres, Alderley Park is home to a world leading science and tech campus, of over 200 innovative companies and offers over 1m sq ft of state of the art laboratory and workspace specifically designed for science and tech businesses. The Park also offers a wide range of amenities for the local community including a gym, sports pitches, and scenic woodland walking, running and cycling routes. The Churchill Tree pub opened to the public in December 2020.

Dr Kath Mackay, managing director, Bruntwood SciTech - Alderley Park, said: “Cycling is a sport renowned for innovation and pushing the realms of possibility and, as a place that is home to some of the country’s most innovative businesses, Alderley Park is a fitting host for the competition.

“The Tour of Britain is a world-class event that brings people together and we can’t wait to welcome the riders, volunteers and the local community for what is set to be a very memorable event.”

Stage five will get underway from Alderley Park at 11:30am from outside Glasshouse, a 150,000 sq ft hub for innovative, hi-tech companies, taking in a route through the impressive grounds.

The route will pass famous Cheshire landmarks such as the 18th Century neoclassical Capesthorne Hall, Jodrell Bank - home to the iconic Grade I listed Lovell Telescope - and through the towns of Holmes Chapel and Congleton, the latter of which hosts the first intermediate sprint.

A trio of ŠKODA King of the Mountains climbs follow skirting below the famous skyline of Bosley Cloud and into the Cheshire Peak District, with the main climb at Bottom-of-the-Oven, a 1.7km ascent (with an average gradient of 6.9%) to just shy of the famous Cat and Fiddle.

Macclesfied, Rainow, and Adlington will all welcome the race before a second intermediate sprint at Wilmslow. The route then heads through the town of Alderley Edge and the climb of the same name and on through Chelford, Knutsford and High Legh before entering Warrington via Appleton.

Jonathan Durling, Tour of Britain partnerships director, said: “We’re delighted to unveil Alderley Park as the host venue for the stage five start. Alderley Park’s reputation as being a world-leading venue for innovation ties in perfectly with the Tour of Britain, as the competing teams and riders leave no stone unturned when it comes to using the best and most up-to-date equipment out there to give them that crucial performance edge. It’s incredibly exciting for us to be working with a venue that has an unwavering desire to capitalise on all of the benefits that cycling can provide.”

Rescheduled to 2021 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 17th edition of the UK’s most prestigious stage race was unveiled last week including two full stages apiece in both Wales and Scotland as part of the 1,320 kilometres (820 miles) route.  The race will go ahead subject to local conditions and in line with relevant national covid guidelines and UCI protocols. 

This year’s Tour of Britain will begin in Cornwall for the first time (Sunday 5 September) with the overall champion crowned in Aberdeen, eight days later on Sunday 12 September, at the end of the most northerly stage ever to feature in the Tour

Further information – including competing teams and riders, and the race’s ITV4 schedule - will be released in the coming weeks.