The dates for the Lloyds Excursions of Britain Males and Girls 2026 have been introduced, with each races going down over 5 levels throughout three weeks in late August and early September subsequent yr
The lads’s ProTour race has been decreased from six levels to 5, whereas the Girls’s WorldTour occasion has been elevated from 4 to 5, which means that there’s gender parity throughout the levels.
The 2026 Tour of Britain Girls will happen from 19-23 August, shifting slot from June, whereas the Tour of Britain Males stays as a substitute within the calendar, going down 2-6 September.
Each are organised by British Biking Occasions (BCE), the occasions arm of the game’s governing physique within the UK. The ladies’s race was gained by Ally Wollaston (FDJ-SUEZ) this yr, whereas Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) gained the boys’s race. The lads’s race additionally noticed Geraint Thomas retire.
The transfer is billed as a “three-week biking celebration throughout the nation” by British Biking.
“Aligning these two main, showpiece occasions inside a matter of weeks will allow us to extend visibility and amplify the extraordinary buzz round every particular person race, to proceed to construct the Lloyds Tour of Britain and interact a rising viewers by the enjoyment of biking,” Jonathan Day, BCE’s managing director, stated.
“Bringing an equal variety of levels throughout the Lloyds Tour of Britain ladies and males’s races for the primary time is a daring transfer we’re extraordinarily pleased with and a part of our strategic dedication to reaching gender parity, having already instantly rising prize cash for the ladies’s race final yr.
“We’re very excited to seeing many extra individuals from communities throughout the UK taking to the roadsides in 2026 and past for this biking extravaganza of world-class racing which rides previous their entrance doorways.”
This yr’s Tour of Britain Girls had its largest ever area – 19 groups and 110 riders, together with 12 WorldTour squads – whereas the Tour of Britain Males had essentially the most riders of the beginning listing because the pandemic, together with 9 WorldTour groups.
Lizzie Deignan, the final British elite street world champion, welcomed the transfer.
“All through my profession I’ve all the time championed ladies’s sport and races, so it’s good to see British Biking has pushed for full parity within the variety of levels on the Lloyds Tour of Britain ladies and men,” Deignan stated. “I’ve seen the impression the occasion has had in communities throughout the nation, and the position it has for uplifting the following technology, particularly younger women who wish to get out and journey a motorbike, whether or not it’s competitively or recreationally.
“I’ve seen gradual change throughout my profession, and that is one other constructive step for girls’s biking. A transfer like this to convey the enjoyment of biking to extra individuals is extremely encouraging, and I’m excited to see the world-class racing on the Tour in 2026.”
The subsequent couple of years may even see the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift come to the UK, in 2027. The lads’s race is ready to begin in Edinburgh.
