The Tour Of Britain's Most Memorable Stages

Race director Mick Bennett recalls five unforgettable stages that shaped the modern Tour of Britain

- Mick Bennett

2012 STAGE 8, 147.8KM REIGATE > GUILDFORD

1 2012 was British cycling’s marquee year, with a maiden Tour de France victory, a dominant Olympics and the world champion in Mark Cavendish. In his final race in the rainbow stripes, Cavendish charged up the cobbled sheets of the Surrey town’s high street, to win his third stage that week. “I have a picture of that moment on my wall,” race director Mick Bennett reveals. “It’s a backshot of Cav coming up the cobbled ridge, with no other riders in view, wearing his rainbow jersey. Coming up a cobbled climb — he did well to win that stage — and with that many people there, it looks like the Tour of Flanders was brought to Guildford.”

What they said...

Brendan Gallagher, writing for the Telegraph, said that Cavendish “marked the end of his reign in style with a particularly gutsy effort to claim his best win of a tough week.” The man himself reflected: “It wasn’t an easy finish. It wasn’t just the last stage; it was the last race for me in the rainbow jersey. The team were incredible.”

2006 STAGE 5, 152.6KM ROCHESTER > CANTERBURY

2 “It’s a painful memory,” is how crossed the line despite a 26-minute Bennett recalls this one. The delay, though organisers didn’t reveal penultimate day of the race at the time what had actually happened. began in Rochester with an 8km neutral zone through the town. But “some muppet stood in front of an arrow and that routed the police the wrong way, and they took the whole race into a Tesco car park.