British teams rue Women's Tour loss

Sponsorship issues result in hiatus for popular UK stage race

- Owen Roger

The announcement that this year’s Women’s Tour would not take place due to a lack of income could have a huge impact on the development of young British riders, claim the managers of two of Britain’s women’s Continental Teams.

In one move, the UK has gone from eight days of WorldTour racing to just the three of the Ford Ride London Classique, stifling exposure to top-level stage racing.

Simon Howes, manager of British women’s team DAS-Handling, told Cycling Weekly: “We’re lucky we’ve had the budget where we could travel and race in Europe and we have done similar races, but we wouldn’t get into a [WorldTour] level race anywhere else in the world.”

Riders from both DAS-Handsling and AWOL O’Shea have gained vital experience at the Women’s Tour in recent years and though both have opportunities to race in Europe, neither have ridden WorldTour stage races outside the UK.

And stage races are key to development according to Pat Hayes at AWOL O’Shea: “The dynamics of stage races are very different, it’s a much calmer atmosphere, the pace is slightly lower until the finale so you get more chance of getting round, more chance of getting experience.”