Human Powered Health Cycling returns to the Women’s WorldTour stage racing at the Tour of Britain Women from June 6 through 9.
After a one-year hiatus, the race is back for four challenging stages in the northwest of the country, starting in Wales and finishing in England. Hilly throughout with one stage looking like a sprint day, the parcours favors opportunists and powerful Classics-style riders.
How to watch
YouTube
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4
USA
FloBikes 6/6 – 6/9 from 8 am EDT / 7 am CDT / 6 am MDT / 5 am PDT
Europe
Eurosport/Discovery 6/6 – 6/9 from 14:00 am CET
UK
Eurosport/Discovery 6/6 – 6/9 from 13:00 am BST
Highlights of each stage on ITV4 every evening
1) Tour of Britain is actually a tour of two countries
‘Wait a second’? You may think, ‘I thought you said it was called the Tour of Britain’. Follow carefully because this may get confusing, but the route of the Tour of Britain passes through two different countries.
Well, Britain (an island), the British Isles (an archipelago), and the United Kingdom (a country) are three entirely different entities, with the race going through two countries this year, England and Wales.
2) Our starting roster is designed for dynamic racing
A strong five will take to the start in Welshpool, Wales off the back of racing for a month in Spain.
This is a home away from home race for in-form New Zealand climber Henrietta Christie whose parents are British. Vuelta a Andalucia stage 2 most combative rider Marit Raaijmakers also returns to Britain having raced here for Human Powered Health in 2022. They are joined by Tour Down Under QOM Katia Ragusa, climber Krista Doebel-Hickok, sprinter-rouleur Linda Zanetti, and former national champion Alice Wood who will be racing on her training roads on stage 3.
3) The roads are heavy
As seen at the recent RideLondon race, the roads in the UK are tough to race on. It’s not just the twisting and narrow nature of the roads, many riders will call them “heavy roads.” This is because British roads are made from a harder tarmac to combat all the rain and persistent car traffic. This results in a rougher, grippier surface and greater rolling resistance, making them feel slower and harder to put down the power.
All of this results in Classics style racing which is probably why world champion Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx-Protime) is also making the trip.
4) Alice Wood comes home
Road race and time trial national champion in 2019, 28-year-old Alice Wood has been a stalwart of the British cycling scene since the start of her career in 2016. Wood finished sixth overall in the 2017 edition where she also finished second on stage 3, beating current Human Powered Health director Giorgia Bronzini in the process.
She will try to repeat history this year with stage 3 around Warrington taking in many of her home training roads.
“It’s so special to have the Tour of Britain back on the calendar and I am extra excited with some stages being very close to home,” she said. “Stage 3 is very close to home. I would say I ride part of the route almost every day in training so that stage is going to be really cool. Sometimes knowing the route well is a bit of a hindrance when we are racing full gas into a corner that you know is a bit sketchy, but I can point all this out to the girls.”
This is Woods’s seventh start at the Tour of Britain, making her one of the most experienced riders on the provisional start list.
She rolls into her home race off the back of a strong showing at the Dwars door de Westhoek where she was a crucial part of Lily Williams’ third-place finish.
5) Off-bike preparation for on-bike performance
“You have to put extra emphasis on the pillars of performance going into a stage race like this,” explains Wood. “I’m pretty happy with my shape off the back of racing in Belgium but now in the week leading up to the start, I start focusing on fuel and recovery.
This is where nutritionist Erica Lombardi helps the riders day to day at the race to make sure they are fueling correctly.
“Pre-stage fueling is something we’ve improved this year,” explains Wood. “At breakfast, we focus on simple sugar intake but avoiding fats. So things like smoothies, rice milk, agave spread, jam, and dehydrated fruit while also getting the complex carbs that are low in fiber to build energy. Easy to digest light protein is also important in the morning.”
Lombardi’s guidance continues across all areas of the day
“The key during a race is to keep hydrated,” says Wood, “but also to eat functional solid foods like an energy chew rather than having too many gels.”
6) The route
6/6 Stage 1 | Welshpool – Llandudno (142.4km) Hilly
The Tour of Britain doesn’t pull any punches, at 142.4km with 2,178 meters of climbing, stage 1 is the toughest on paper. Rarely flat, the peloton will likely thin out on the Llangynog and Ty’n y Llidiart climbs before descending to a rolling final 40 kilometers into the finish on the Welsh coastline. Group sprint or not, it’s likely to be a dramatically reduced bunch.
6/7 Stage 2 | Wrexham – Wrexham (140.1km) Hilly
Stage 2 starts and finishes in the Welsh town of Wrexham, home of the Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney-owned football (we don’t call it soccer here) team. This time the stage is backloaded with a rolling start making way to the 4.2km at 6.4% Horseshoe Pass. After that, there’s a roller and then a 10km descent back to Wrexham but puncheurs ought to strike out for the GC on the climb.
6/8 Stage 3 | Warrington – Warrington (106.8km) Flat
It’s the flattest day of the week on Alice’s home roads but there are plenty of obstacles. Pexhill and Shrigley Road constitute the only lumps on the parcours but British roads deal plenty of challenges. It will likely end in a bunch sprint in Warrington though.
6/9 Stage 4 | Manchester – Leigh (99km) Hilly
Stage 4 is the shortest day of the race but packs a punch in the form of the narrow, steep Grains Bar and Ramsbottom Rake climbs. But, we’re in the Lancashire area of England which means the stage is full of rollers that will split the race up in this tour of the Greater Manchester area.
Follow comprehensive coverage of Human Powered Heath’s fortunes throughout the week via the team’s Instagram, Facebook and X accounts.
