The Women’s Tour to be broadcast live for the first time
The Women's Tour to be broadcast live for the first time
The late addition of a new sponsor, cottages.com, has ensured that all six stages of the Women’s Tour will be broadcast live for the first time.
“With just five days until the eighth edition of Britain’s most prestigious race begins in Colchester (Monday 6 June), organisers SweetSpot have confirmed that all six stages of the UCI Women’s WorldTour event will be shown live,” read an official statement from the race.
“This broadcast has been made possible by self-catering accommodation provider cottages.com (part of Awaze), event stakeholders and Eurosport GCN,” continues the statement.
“Fans around the world will be able to watch the daily live coverage on Eurosport Player and GCN+, with the race’s ever-popular highlights show following each evening on ITV4 in the UK. The schedule for the live coverage will be published ahead of the race at the weekend.”
The news comes after the newly-expanded RideLondon Women’s WorldTour race (organised by a separate company) failed to provide live images of the first two stages of the race.
The UCI mandates a minimum of 45 minutes of live coverage for Women’s WorldTour events. In 2021, after being forced to cancel the 2020 event, The Women’s Tour failed to provide live coverage, citing financial strain due to the Covid pandemic.
Women’s Tour executive chairman, Hugh Roberts, said of the news: “Delivering a live TV broadcast for the Women’s Tour has been our biggest target ever since the event’s inaugural edition back in 2014. We hope that it proves transformative for women’s sport in the UK, as well as being something that further enhances the worldwide reputation of our race.”
Roberts also reiterated that the race continues to search for a title sponsor for the 2023 event: “We thank all of those partners and stakeholders who have come forward to support us with this, and hope that it inspires more major brands to showcase their support of women’s sport by joining up with our event for 2023 and beyond as we continue to look for a headline sponsor.”
The women’s Tour will start on Monday 6th June in Colchester, Essex before culminating in Oxford on Saturday 11th June.
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