This summer’s unique new cycle racing series - The Tour Series – which stormed its way around 10 towns and cities in the UK, has been hailed as a resounding success by organisers Sweetspot and Cyclevox, the event partner venues and racing teams alike.
The gladiatorial Tour Series ‘battle of the bikes’ brought fast and furious team based cycle races sweeping through the towns drawing accumulative crowds in excess of 100,000 people and making this one of the biggest free to attend events in the UK sporting calendar.
Televised in 10 one hour-long shows on ITV4, and promoted with an intensive PR campaign to local and national press, the organisers have reported The Tour Series has reached some 40 million people in the UK over the past three months, with the Tour Series website (www.tourseries.co.uk) generating over 375,000 page views in the same three month period.
Partner towns, many of which are cycling demonstration towns, have released very positive feedback on the impact of The Tour Series coming to town. Venues have reported increased participation in cycling as a whole coupled with direct positive impact upon their economies.
Following round nine in Chester, which attracted an estimated 12,000 people as spectators, officials believed that the crowds which flocked to Chester for The Tour Series boosted the city's economy by approximately £500,000.
Exeter’s Cycling Demonstration Town Project Team has seen an unprecedented interest in all elements of cycling in the two months since The Tour Series. “This summer we have really ramped up activity and The Tour Series was the cherry on top of the cake with Olympic and World Champions racing on our city streets. So many people – children and adults – have been inspired and with the current high profile of cycling in Britain, and in the run up to the London 2012 Olympics events like The Tour Series really are opportunities not to be missed,” Zsolt Schuller, Cycle Exeter Project Manager.
Exeter reported that the Exeter City Centre Management Partnership Group expressed unanimous support for the event recognising that in times of economic uncertainty The Tour Series was a welcome release bringing residents and visitors into the city for a festival of cycling, which was something everyone could get involved with and celebrate.
In addition, bicycle shops in Exeter have stated that The Tour Series brought with it a big surge in interest in cycling. Sidwells Cycles in the city centre recorded the busiest ever day in their 12 year history, the day after the race. James Fishwick, Shop Manager said, “The next three or four days after the Tour were absolutely mental! Business since the race has noticeably increased.”
Peterborough noted as well as the obvious economic impact of having an additional 8,500 people in the city centre spending money, they took the view that they wanted to use the event as a major community involvement initiative and to promote their emerging position as the UK's environment capital.
All partner venues ran schools cycling activities on the day of their Tour Series round, engaging thousands of children with the positive benefits of cycling on both their health and the environment while supporting local cycling businesses.
“The Tour Series is a revolutionary new concept in cycle racing, which saw the event focus on team performance rather than on individual athletic performance. This focus allowed the event to become very popular with the teams, spectators and TV audiences alike,” said Hugh Roberts, chief executive officer of SweetSpot Group, co-organisers of The Tour of Britain and The Tour Series. “Thanks to the event being broadcast on TV, members of the public who were not able to attend any of the events in person were able to enjoy a full hour’s worth of racing the following evening. In addition, our partner towns and cities were also able to show viewers and spectators what they had to offer, resulting in a boost in their tourism offerings.”
“City Centre racing has made a spectacular return to the UK. The success of this year’s Tour Series events has given riders and teams the ideal platform to show off themselves and their sponsors on national TV,” said John Herety, Team Manager for Rapha-Condor. “The new team format had both cyclists and non cyclists hooked to the very last round. This series can only get bigger in 2010 and any riders signing for the Rapha Condor team in the coming months for next season will be told The Tour Series will be an extremely high priority for them.”
The gladiatorial Tour Series selected 10 towns and cities to host this fast and furious bike racing series which started on the 21st May in Milton Keynes with the finals taking place in 30 degree sunshine in Southend on Sea on 25th June.
The Tour Series team line-up contained the UK’s best elite cycling teams with some of the greatest road and track racing talent that the UK has produced in the last 20 years. The coveted Tour Series title went to Team Halfords BikeHut with Candi TV the close runner up.
