Tour of Britain upgraded to 2.HC status by UCI

The Tour of Britain has been upgraded within the UCI calendar to a category HC race for 2014.

Britain’s most prestigious stage race, won by Team Sky’s Bradley Wiggins last year, now sits alongside races such as the Amgen Tour of California, Criterium International and the Tour of Qatar, in terms of status. This year’s edition of the Tour of Britain is scheduled to take place between September 7-14 with a mixture of WorldTour, ProContinental and domestic teams taking part.

"We are delighted by today's announcement, which comes as a culmination of 10 years' hard work by the SweetSpot team,” said race director Mick Bennett.

"The award of 2.HC status is another step forward for The Tour of Britain, and we look forward to this September's edition of the race being the best yet.

"The upgrade is also a reward for the many hundreds of thousands of spectators who have lined the route and cheered on the race over the past decade."

Further details of the 2014 route will be announced later this spring.