Organisers of the new SKODA V-SERIES Women's Tour have announced that the three-stage virtual event set for June 17-19 will be broadcast live on BBC Sport. The top riders and teams will race each stage on the RGT Cycling virtual platform in support of Breast Cancer Now and Mind.
The racing will be broadcast live at 7 p.m. BST / 2 p.m. EDT for each of the three stages through the BBC Sport website, app and BBC iPlayer. Commentary and expert analysis will be provided by Women’s Tour commentators Marty MacDonald and Olympic Champion Joanna Rowsell Shand.
The races will also be broadcast live through the Women’s Tour event website and Youtube Channel.
Race organiser SweetSpot have already announced 15 professional teams that will take part in the event, including FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope, Trek-Segafredo and Bigla-Katusha.
Trek-Segafredo have announced that they will field US National road champion Ruth Winder, Tayler Wiles and Lotta Henttala.
"Having the opportunity to participate in the Virtual Women’s Tour will be a nice change to the monotony the riders are experiencing at home these days with no racing in the immediate future. The stages have something for everybody, and we tried to assemble a team that can compete well in all of them," said the team's director Ina Teutenberg.
"We’re still in the early stages of the preparation for the re-start of the season, but this event will give the riders some welcomed motivation. We want to be competitive in every single stage."
Other teams include Bizkaia Durango, CAMS Tifosi, Cogeas Mettler Look Pro Cycling, Drops, Hitec Products Birk Sport, Lotto Soudal Ladies, Rally Cycling, Storey Racing, Team Breeze, Team TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank and Great Britian.
The first two stages will use RGT Cycling's 'Magic Roads' software, which allows event organisers to utilise GPX files to simulate the routes and profiles. The third and final stage will use RGT Cycling’s ultra-realistic Real Roads.
SweetSpot announced last month that it was forced to cancel the Women's Tour, which was originally scheduled to take place in June, due to health and safety precautions surrounding the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Organisers plan to return to the Women's WorldTour calendar in 2021.
SKODA V-SERIES Women's Tour
The event will open on June 17 with a 38.4km stage to Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk.
The second stage, on June 18, will offer a 35.7km race to Burton Dassett in Warwickshire, where the participants will tackle the 1.7km ascent three times.
The racing will conclude on June 19 with a 35km circuit race held on a one-kilometre loop through the business district of Canary Wharf, London.
