TOUR OF BRITAIN 2017
Stage Seven of the Tour of Britain will be passing through Stow on the Wold on Saturday 9th September 2017 so come and enjoy a wonderful day in the town. Scroll down for all the things taking place in the town!
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS IN STOW
11.00 am* - TOUR OF BRITAIN HERITAGE BIKE RIDE
hosted by the Great British Bike Build & Tyndale Cycling Club, The Heritage Bike Ride will arrive in the square at approximately 11am. The ride will attract vintage riders from all over the country who enjoy dressing up in traditional vintage cycle apparel ‘Tweed’ and riding heritage bicycles. The ladies quite often wear frocks and display flowers in their baskets and men wear plus 4’s and have traditional saddlebags on their bicycles. It is quite a spectacle and not to be missed.
The riders will leave at NOON* and will be joined by Cllr Ben Eddolls, Chairman of Stow Town Council, who will ride part of the route to Bourton on the Water with them.
1.30-1.45 pm* - TOUR OF BRITAIN
The Tour of Britain will arrive in Stow and will go along the A429 Fosseway towards Moreton. Be sure to be in position to see the lead cars come through who are generally about 15 minutes ahead of the cyclists and give them a wave and cheer!
EXHIBITIONS IN STOW
“WHEELS IN MOTION” Exhibition
Visit Christopher Clarke Antiques, Sheep Street who will be displaying vintage bicycles and old photographs of cyclists in the town, including the Milk Race which was in Stow in 1967 and cycling accessories. As Stow is the highest town on Stage 7 of the Tour they are going to display a large “King of the Mountains” jersey on the outside of their shop facing the Fosseway.
WINDOW DISPLAYS
Take a walk around the town and enjoy some of the wonderful window displays at lots of our wonderful businesses.
PAINTED BIKES
There are lots of green bikes appearing in the town painted in the sponsors colours.
“WHEELS IN MOTION” Exhibition
Visit Christopher Clarke Antiques, Sheep Street who will be displaying vintage bicycles and old photographs of cyclists in the town, including the Milk Race which was in Stow in 1967 and cycling accessories. As Stow is the highest town on Stage 7 of the Tour they are going to display a large “King of the Mountains” jersey on the outside of their shop facing the Fosseway.
WINDOW DISPLAYS
Take a walk around the town and enjoy some of the wonderful window displays at lots of our wonderful businesses.
PAINTED BIKES
There are lots of green bikes appearing in the town painted in the sponsors colours.
THE TOUR OF BRITAIN, NOW AND FIFTY YEARS AGO
The Tour of Britain cycle race will pass through Stow on September 9th. Fifty years ago, in 1967, the Tour (then also known as the Milk Race) made an earlier visit. Stage two of the race, from Swindon to Malvern, passed through the town. In fact, Stow was an important point on the Tour because this stage, which took place on a very warm May 29th, was divided into two
parts, with Stow being the breakpoint. As a result, Stow hosted a finishing line and a re-start, with the action in the town all taking place over a couple of hours in the middle of the day. To add to the drama, the morning session from Swindon to Stow was a team time trial, and resulted in the exotic sight (for those days) of a winning Soviet Union team taking the honours in Stow.
The route brought the riders up Stow Hill, with the finish line somewhere near the cemetery, and the photographs shown were taken close to this point. The crowds were clearly out in force, enjoying the action as well as the sunshine, but the road remained fully open to traffic during the event. It was evidently somewhat lower key than the modern Tour.
There are other differences from today. Only one of the riders caught by camera has a cycling helmet, and that was of the leather ribbed variety which surely offered little of the protection we are used to these days. Differences in the bikes are less obvious and at first sight they appear rather similar to their modern equivalents. Improvements must have taken place largely under the skin - to the uninitiated eye at least.
Unlike today, the Tour in 1967 was a strictly amateur affair, like many of the major sporting events of the day. Even so, the field of riders contained many overseas competitors. Pleasingly, however, the overall winner in 1967 was the very British Les West. Let's hope for another home win in 2017.
PARKING IN STOW
In addition to the Long Stay car park, adjacent to Tesco and the Pay & Display car park in Maugersbury Road there will be a temporary car park on QEII playing field (& cricket ground), Lower Swell Road (GL54 1LD). This is being run by the Sam Pilcher Charitable Trust and the cost for parking all day will be £3. Look out for temporary yellow signs!