dunno if there's any bicycle fan online but I wanted to let you guys know that Stage 6 of The Tour of Britain is being held. Meanwhile, I thought I'd do a little investigation about it's origins, because frankly I've never really felt curious about it.


Did you know that...? a semi-professional cyclist from Derby, Dave Orford, asked the MMB -The Milk Marketing Board, a sales monopoly for dairy farmers in England and Wales- to pay for "Drink more milk" to be embroidered on the jersey of every semi-professional, or independent, rider in the country. The MMB could then advertise that races had been won because of the properties of milk and the winner would receive a £10 bonus as a result


This Year's Promo video (I thought it would be a nice detail to include it, even thought competition is almost finishing) It's really motivational, don't you think?



The Tour of Britain has its origins in a dispute between cyclists during the Second World War. The British administrative body, the National Cyclists' Union (NCU), had feared since the 19th century that massed racing on the roads would endanger all racing, including early-morning time trials and, originally, the very place of cyclists on the road.

A race organised from Llangollen to Wolverhampton on 7 June 1942, in defiance of the NCU, led to its organisers and riders being banned. They formed a new body, the British League of Racing Cyclists (BLRC), which wanted not only massed racing but a British version of the Tour de France.

The first multi-day stage race in Britain was the Southern Grand Prix in Kent in August 1944. It was won by Les Plume of Manchester. The first stage was won by Percy Stallard, the organiser of the Llangollen-Wolverhampton race in 1942.

Stages 1 & 2 Photos:






Luke Rowe


winner stage 2, Leigh Howard


Stage 3




Stages 4 & 5 Photos:


Graham Cain, Blackpool


5 year of TTOB in Stoke-on-Trent


Stage 6