Lloyds Tour of Britain Women 2025 Preview

The Lloyds Tour of Britain Women was halted for a year in 2023 due to financial constraints, but returned with a shorter format in 2024, which the 2025 edition will follow. There will be four stages compared to the six stages that existed in the 2019, 2021 and 2022 editions of the race. In total, the riders will tackle 423.6 kilometres across the four stages, with England and Scotland hosting two each. Despite this, the Lloyds Tour of Britain Women is still expected to produce a very competitive start list with some of the world’s best riders in attendance.

Last year, it was world champion Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx-Protime) who dominated the race, winning the opening two stages and the general classification. It was almost total domination for Team SD Worx-Protime, who won stage three with Lorena Wiebes, before narrowly missing out in a photo finish on the final stage to an impressive Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) sprint. Anna Henderson (Great Britain) and Christine Majerus (Team SD Worx-Protime) rounded out the general classification podium.

Eight different riders have won the Tour of Britain women, and Lizzie Deignan (Lidl-Trek) is the only rider to have won on multiple occasions, taking two titles in 2016 and 2019. Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) holds the record for the most stage wins, with the Dutch sprinter taking an impressive six victories across three editions of the race. This will be Deignan's final appearance at the race as the former world champion is set to retire at the end of the year.

Defending champion Lotte Kopecky doesn’t return to the start line, but there is still set to be an abundance of talent taking to the roads of Britain on June 5. Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime), Charlotte Kool (Picnic PostNL), and Chiara Consonni (CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto) stand out as some of the fastest sprinters in the world and are all set to be in attendance.

From a British perspective, some of the biggest prospects in the peloton, Zoe Bäckstedt (CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto), Cat Ferguson (Movistar Team) and Imogen Wolff (Visma | Lease a Bike) will be raring to deliver a strong performance at their home race. On the more experienced end, Lidl-Trek boast two of the strongest riders from British shores in recent times in the form of the previously mentioned Lizzie Deignan and Anna Henderson. Will we see the emergence of another British star this year?

Other riders set to line up include the recently crowned Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal), the Olympic road race champion Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Oatly), and stage winner from twelve months ago in Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv AlUla Jayco).

Here is a look at the four stages that the Lloyds Tour of Britain Women peloton are set to take on from June 5. There are two stages in England, followed by two stages in Scotland, packed into 423.6 kilometres.

The opening stage is one of two which are well under the 100 kilometre mark at this year's race. Stage 1 begins in Dalby Forest, located on the southern slopes of the North York Moors National Park. A climb in the forest featured in the opening stage of the 2015 Tour de Yorkshire, and in 2010 and 2011, the forest played host to a round of the cross-country UCI Mountain Bike World Cup.

After initially heading southwest, the peloton will travel north towards Redcar, taking on two categorised climbs at Blakley Ridge (6km at 4%) and Langburn’s Bank (2km at 5%) along the way. These climbs will decide who will lead the mountains classification at the end of the day.

An intermediate sprint point follows at Newton-Under-Rosebury, before attention turns to a fast and furious finish in the town of Redcar on the Yorkshire coast. Last year, Redcar hosted the finish of stage 2 at the Tour of Britain Men’s race, on an attritional stage won by the eventual GC winner Stevie Williams (Israel - Premier Tech).

This is set to be a key stage for the general classification, and most British fans will be well aware of the climb that is likely to define this stage. Saltburn Bank, a 300-metre coastal climb with hairpins ramping up to 15%, has become one of the most significant landmarks in British Cycling in recent years.

The climb formed a key part of the Lloyds National Road Race Championships in 2023 and 2024, both won by Pfeiffer Georgi (Picnic PostNL). The climb also featured in the Lloyds Tour of Britain Men’s race last Autumn, on the previously mentioned stage 2, where Stevie Williams (Israel-Premier Tech) was victorious in Redcar.

This year, the riders will tackle the climb twice, including at the finish, and it’s possible that the race could split to pieces on the first ascent, before a hilly run-in to the second ascent up Saltburn Bank, where the stage will ultimately be decided. With the inclusion of Saltburn Bank, stage 2 is set to be crucial for the general classification at this year's Tour of Britain. 

Stage 3 is the first of two days in Scotland, and the picturesque market town of Kelso has recent experience of hosting significant bike races. The opening stage of the 2024 Tour of Britain Men’s race began and finished in Kelso and was won in a sprint finish by Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step).

In 148.7 kilometres of racing, there are over 2,100 metres of elevation gain, making this an attritional stage where a sprint finish is far from guaranteed. Two ascents of Scott’s View (2.5km at 2.5%), Dingleton (2.5km at 6%), and a single ascent of Dunion Hill (3km at 5.4%) are likely to cause issues for some of the pure sprinters and weaker climbers. 

If the race is ridden at a difficult pace, we could see a reduced peloton contest the finish, and it could be a stage which is best suited to an outsider taking the win in Kelso due to its complex and unpredictable nature. Consequently, it could be another important stage in the general classification.

The conclusion to the 2025 Tour of Britain Women is set for a thrilling finale on a fast 8.4 kilometre Glasgow city circuit next to the River Clyde. 10 laps of the city circuit are on the menu, taking the stage’s total distance to 84 kilometres, making it the shortest in the race.

Laps 4, 6, and 8 are dubbed ‘sprint laps’ with bonus points available across the finish line for the riders in the mix for the points classification.

More crucially, the expected bunch sprint at the end of the stage will likely bear significant consequences on who will win the points classification. It is also at this point that, barring incident or accident, the 2025 Lloyds Tour of Britain Women winner will be declared.