Cycling stars will launch the Lloyds Tour of Britain Women in Dalby Forest today (Thursday, 5 June).
The event begins at 11.30am at Dalby Forest, next to the visitor centre. Then riders will compete in stage one of the race, which takes them from Dalby, across the North York Moors National Park to Redcar.
It’s the last British event for Yorkshire rider Lizzie Deignan, who won it in both 2016 and 2019, and who’s announced her retirement at the end of the season.
The event does mean some roads are closed and diversions are in place.
Access to the forest from Thornton-le-Dale will be limited between 11am and 12pm for the departure of the race.
For access from Thornton-le-Dale prior to the race starting, there will be a 7-mile diversion to the visitor centre via Adderstone Field.
The Dalby Forest Drive will remain accessible from Scarborough via Bickley throughout the day, with spectators coming by car able to park in the Seivedale overflow car park, a short walk from the visitor centre and start area.
The race will exit Dalby Forest via the Forest Drive through Low Dalby to the A169, with a rolling road closure in place.
The race is due to pass through the centre of Pickering (11.55am), and then through Aislaby (12pm) on the A170 to Keldholme, where the race turns for Hutton-le-Hole (12.15pm) before the first Queen of the Mountains climb of the 2025 race, the 6.4-kilometre climb of Blakey Ridge.
The race then continues across the North York Moors National Park via Castleton (12.45pm) and Commondale (12.55pm), before racing through Great Ayton (1.10pm), past Forestry England Guisborough (1.20pm), and through Guisborough (1.25pm), before the finish on the Coast Road in Redcar, at around 1.50pm.
The British national team will be one of 19 teams in the record-breaking field for the race, taking the number of riders starting the event to 114.
Lizzie Deignan spoke of her feelings before the race. “I’ll feel incredibly emotional,” she said.
“I’ve been there at the start of women’s cycling when we were fighting just to be included at races. I grew up watching the men’s Tour of Britain and there was no option for the women.
“Now I will be at the start line with however many WorldTour teams, all the WorldTour women from the UK representing cycling. I think it will just be a moment of reflection for me to think, gosh, how far we’ve come.”