VIDEO NEWS: Tour of Britain Hits London 07/09/08

VIDEO CATCH-UP: Missed the race? Watch it on ITV.COM 

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The Race

The 2008 Tour of Britain will visit a total of 15 venues, beginning in London on Sunday September 7 and finishing in Liverpool eight days later.

The 2008 race features 16 teams of six riders.

The route of the 2008 Tour of Britain is designed to deliver a worthy overall winner to Liverpool on September 14. Along the way the riders will face every kind of challenge that the UK’s roads have to offer, from windswept coastal roads to steep narrow climbs and much more beyond.

Click here to download the Tour of Britain Race Manual 08

The Route

The 2008 Tour of Britain serves up a varied menu of challenges for the 96 riders who will line up in London on September 7 and the winner of the Yellow Jersey in Liverpool will have to be versatile and tactically aware.

Stage 1 – The TfL London Stage - 7 Sept 2008

The opening stage of the race sees a brand new circuit and a return to the very heart of London for the Tour of Britain in 2008. Based around the embankment and featuring some of the great landmarks of London this circuit will offer spectators a great chance to see the opening skirmishes of the race unfold as all the action is relayed live back to the TfL big screen throughout the afternoon.

Stage 2 – The South East of England - 8 Sept 2008

Two new venues for the race are the bookends to the second stage of the race on a journey that heads from a new town, Milton Keynes, to one of the oldest in the region, the picturesque market town of Newbury.

Stage 3 – The South West - 9 Sept 2008

The riders will tackle a route from Chard through to Burnham on Sea for the first ever coastal Tour of Britain stage finish!

Stage 4 – The West Midlands - 10 Sept 2008

The race will start at Worcester before heading north to finish for the first time in Stoke on Trent.

Stage 5 – Yorkshire - 11 Sept 2008

Yorkshire has always served up its fair share of challenges for the Tour of Britain and this year is no different with an awesome new stage from Hull to the Dalby Forest.

Stage 6 – The North East - 12 Sept 2008

2008 will be the first time The Tour of Britain has visited the North East of England. This stage will begin in Darlington, one of England’s 6 cycling demonstration towns, before heading further north to finish on Tyneside in the beautiful city of Gateshead.

Stage 7 – Scotland - 13 Sept 2008

Host of the overall finish of the race in 2007 and subsequently announced as the host for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Glasgow will once again host the race in 2008 with the start of the penultimate stage. From there the race will head into Dumfries & Galloway where the stage will finish.

Stage 8 – England’s North West - 14 Sept 2008

After racing south from Blackpool the stage will culminate with an hour of racing around a city centre circuit in Liverpool.

Click here for more information about the Tour of Britain