Feature: Domestic Road Racing: ‘The Way Ahead’

British domestic road racing faced serious challenges even before Covid19 decimated the 2020 calendar. How can it recover, strengthen and achieve sustainability? Here is part one of our in-depth investigation.

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Feature: Domestic Road Racing: ‘The Way Ahead’

British domestic road racing faced serious challenges even before Covid19 decimated the 2020 calendar. How can it recover, strengthen and achieve sustainability? Enjoy part one of our in-depth investigation.

You can read the full article on the Brother UK Cycling Blog or … listen to it on the Brother UK Cycling Podcast


September sunshine enfolds Manchester in a warm embrace, bathing a city more accustomed to downpours in a heady atmospheric cocktail of heat and light. While the hundreds of thousands of spectators drawn to the city centre by the prospect of free access to world-class sport (Tour of Britain) luxuriate in such divinely atypical conditions, the brightest stars in professional cycling’s dazzling firmament put on a show to remember.

A peloton comprised of the biggest names in the sport explodes onto Deansgate, an arrow-straight thoroughfare at the heart of Manchester’s shopping district repurposed by barriers and timing equipment as a drag strip. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) wins in a scintillating sprint finish, sealing an overall victory that reinforces his status as overwhelming favourite for the World Championships in Yorkshire a week later.

Mathieu van der Poel after stage 8 of the Tour of Britain.  Photo: Getty Images

This triumphant final chapter of an enthralling race represents a day in which every piece of professional cycling’s jigsaw falls into place: teams and riders, organisers and sponsors, public bodies and the sport’s governing body.

Manchester’s ten boroughs, acting as one beneath the banner of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, and sponsors with a presence in the city, notably Brother UK, reflect with pride on an unsurpassable day. People from across Manchester have been royally entertained. More importantly, they have bonded.

It might have been during an enjoyable afternoon on Deansgate, or at an unforgettable morning spent at the stage départ in Altrincham, watching an otherwise quiet town transformed by bicycles, bunting and tour buses. It might have been as they stood together outside their houses, waiting for the race to pass.

Sadly, the scenes described in Manchester are exceptional, rather than typical. This final stage of a National Tour brings down the curtain not only on the 15th edition of the modern Tour of Britain but on one of its longest-serving teams, too. Madison-Genesis, a British-registered, UCI Continental squad, ending its seven years of racing on Deansgate.

Their demise continues an unfortunate trend among teams and races. JLT-Condor quit a year earlier. NFTO, One Pro Cycling, Team UK Youth and Endura Racing are no more; see also a list of races as long as your arm, including, but by no means limited to, the Archer GP, Havant GP, and Grand Prix of Essex.

Six months later in 2020, just weeks after the long-delayed 2020 calendar is finally published, the domestic road scene faces its biggest challenge to date, and one that no one stood on the finish line in Manchester could possibly have foreseen – Covid19.

Click here to read the full article , or listen to a panel of experts including Phil Jones MBE, Erick Rowsell and Larry Hickmott on the Brother UK Cycling Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify 

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