City set to welcome top cycle race

Derby City Council has announced that a major international women’s cycle race is set to visit Derby for the first time.

Stage four of The Women’s Tour will finish in the city on Saturday 10 June, following a day of top-level sporting action that begins in Coleshill, North Warwickshire.

Set entirely within the Midlands, the penultimate stage of the five-day event will see the peloton will race through Warwickshire, Leicestershire, and Derbyshire, before making its way towards the finish line in Derby, which is home to one of the UK’s six indoor velodromes.

Councillor Jerry Pearce, the city council’s cabinet member for Streetpride, leisure and public spaces, said: “The opportunities that being a host city brings are tremendous, from raising our city’s profile and boosting our local economy to inspiring the next generation of cyclists. It will be a fantastic spectacle for the residents of Derby.”

Last year’s Women’s Tour race averaged a daily roadside attendance of 60,000 spectators and delivered an economic boost of over £1 million to local economies.

Mick Bennett, Women’s Tour race director, said: “Derby is fast becoming a hotbed of cycling, helped in part by its spectacular velodrome, so I cannot wait for the UK’s leading women’s race to visit the city for the first time in June.”