TAVISTOCK is to host one of the three intermediate sprints in the UK’s biggest professional cycle race, the Tour of Britain, when it returns to the county in September next year.

The news this week was greeted with excitement by cycling club Tavistock Wheelers which hopes that large crowds will turn out to cheer on the contenders like they did in 2010 when stage five of the race started in the town (see pictures).

Club press secretary Martin Williams said cyclists would be coming through the town at speeds of around 40mph and he expected it to be ‘quite a spectacle’

Highly popular with fans, riders battle it out to be first across the sprint line to claim points, and also bonus seconds (three, two and one) to be taken off their overall race time.

If the overall lead for the Tour of Britain is tight, you can expect the battle for the time bonuses to be intense, just as in 2007, when an intermediate sprint helped decide who won the Tour overall.

‘We knew the Tour was coming to Devon in 2021 but we just learned this week that it is coming to Tavistock, it has created great excitement,’ said Martin.

‘The sprints are very competitive because cyclists could be earning points for themselves or team tactics could be at play. Most of us in the club will be taking that day off to watch it.’

In 2010 crowds lined the streets and a special celebration was organised with the local schools and town council taking part. Martin said he hoped that kind of response would greet the Tour of Britain cyclists again. ‘The children were waving flags and there was a great atmosphere,’ he said.

The tour will also pass through Horrabridge, Merrivale, Princetown, Two Bridges and Postbridge during the 185-kilometre Devon leg between Sherford and Exeter.

Two of the three Skoda King of the Mountains climbs will be in Dartmoor National Park, the first the 8.7-kilometre climb at Rundlestone above Tavistock, which has been used by the Tour of Britain twice before (2010 and 2012) and between Postbridge and the famous Warren House Inn.

Each road stage of the Tour of Britain features three intermediate sprints, where points are awarded towards the Sprints jersey. The other sprints will take place in Kingsbridge and Torcross.

Read more in this week’s Tavistock Times, out now