A week ago today (Thursday) saw the announcement of the death of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, a declaration that rocked the whole nation and one which saw a domino effect on many planned major events including the final stage of this year’s Tour of Britain Cycle race, due to be held here on the Isle of Wight last weekend.
The initial announcement from the competition organisers saw the event cancel its 6th stage in Gloucestershire – before announcing later that evening that the final stages in Dorset and the Isle of Wight would be cancelled too.
Due to commitments of things like Police escorts and media coverage, the event could not simply be postponed, with it instead being cancelled and a winner announced.
As a result of this, it remains unsure as to whether – in attempts to make well on the plan – the race will finally come to the Island when it’s held next year.
Nick Bull, part of the PR and marketing team at Tour of Britain, has said:
“We’d certainly love to, but there are a lot of moving parts to all this. We are keeping in contact with our stakeholders on the Isle of Wight.
“Amid all the uncertainty since the tragic events of last week, there is a lot to sort out.”
The cancellation of the last 3 stages was made as both a mark of respect for Her Late Majesty’s death, but also as a practical one following the withdrawal of police units used throughout the tour to their respective forces throughout the country – a reason why many sports such as Football saw fixtures cancelled across all divisions last weekend.
Whilst organisers for the Isle of Wight stage and Islanders themselves were very much looking forward to the event, as it stands no timetables or plans have been drawn up for the next iteration of the race.
Nick then added:
“It’s far too early to say at this stage. No timetables have been made and there are no guarantees.”
Announcements for the 2023 edition of the AJ Bell Tour of Britain are expected to be made in due course.
Oh please, no. Not again!
No, thank you. This sort of race can be absorbed on mainland roads – here, it’s too much of an imposition. Please take it somewhere else.
Don’t bother coming down here with your crappy bicycle ride, the vast majority of the island’s population do not want it, I’d go as far as 85% are against it, it’s only the die hard Lycra losers who would be interested,
Yes, clearly IE do not bother to read the comments pages of their own paper if they think that the islanders “were looking forward to it”. Most of us were not!
There a dozen moaning old gits on here at the most. You’re not ‘the most of us’ you lot moan for moanings sake.
Hope it’s not coming I think it’s already cost the ratepayers over £300,000
Let’s hope it dosent.
Most of the people here simply don’t want it, there is no reason for it to come here and no benefit either. So just don’t bother. It will cause chaos on the island, we had chaos here before it even started with all the signage and satnavs going crazy.
Why be so negative all the time ?
Island Roads are no good for cars, yet alone cycles.
Stay away is the best option.