[ritchiebaby]

The TOB starts off in Kelso in the beautiful Scottish Borders on Tuesday 3 September.

The 181.9kms of Stage 1 starts and ends on the famous Kelso cobbles. The route goes round in two loops all within half an hour of my house, meaning there will be plenty of opportunities for me to watch the action. Too many to be honest, but thanks to road closures and the like, I'll be limited to only three.

I'll probably be in Kelso for the start (once again the race will go past Oscar Onley's house), then Melrose for the 6.2% Dingleton Hill climb on the first circuit and finally within half a mile of my house as the riders race back to Kelso for the finish. If the weather is decent I could easily walk to the foot of the Scott's View climb on the second circuit.


Leaving Scotland for the rest of the TOB in England for
Stage 2 Wednesday 4 September - Darlington to Redcar
Stage 3 Thursday 5 September - Sheffield to Barnsley
Stage 4 Friday 6 September - Derby to Newark-on-Trent
Stage 5 Saturday 7 September - Northampton to Northampton
Stage 6 Sunday 8 September - Lowestoft to Felixstowe

[Lord Snooty]

There's a sign at the top of our road saying the race is coming by.

[ritchiebaby]

Thanks to my bowling prowess - well, really the prowess of the rest of the team - my plans for watching on Tuesday have been blown apart. I'll still be watching at one of the points on the first circuit, but have to leave early (I do have a note from the manager )

[themaclad]

Might be watching a massive bit of biking next week, Spanish and British at same time, good job it's the International break

[ritchiebaby]

Just been watching the highlights to find out who won today! It was Paul Magnier, a very promising French rider.

I did get to see a bit of the race live at Leaderfoot Bridge between Scott's View and Melrose on the first circuit. My problem wasn't so much the route, but the rolling road closures which limited my choices. Getting there to watch and then getting away again was the problem.

[Lord Snooty]

Which channel is it on, ritchie?

[ritchiebaby]

ITV4 live from approx 10am to 4pm and also highlights at 8pm-ish.

[themaclad]

Did have it on but lack of sleep from nasal and chest crap meant slept through most of it

[ritchiebaby]

An excellent day for the Scottish Borders.

Oscar Onley from Kelso finished 3rd (in a 3-man sprint ), although he's not really a sprinter, and moves up to 2nd in the GC, behind today's winner Stevie Williams. The KOM leader is Callum Thornley from Peebles, who dominated the climbs both yesterday and today.

[ritchiebaby]

Stevie Williams won today's stage from Paul Magnier in a sprint finish to retain the GC lead with Oscar Onley coming in 5th to retain 2nd place overall. Onley currently leads the Youth rankings.

Callum Thornley finished 10th today and still has a healthy lead in the KOM. In fact, with only 2 Cat3 climbs to come in the flatter parts of England he probably has enough points in the bag already. Williams and Magnier are battling away in the Points with only 6 points separating them.

The rest of the ToB is a pretty straightforward benign event, tailor-made for the sprinters.

Now for my usual rant about the TV coverage
Yesterday was kind of rainy, today was a miserable foggy wet day, but we still got helicopter coverage. Tuesday was a gloriously sunny day in the Scottish Borders, but, guess what? No helicopter coverage to show the rest of the country what beautiful countryside I live in. It was all because the helicopter was grounded in England because of the bad weather!!! Surely it wasn't beyond the wit and intelligence of some unknown TV executive to organise a helicopter from Edinburgh or Glasgow. Sorry, it obviously was - a prime example of Scotland being considered unimportant by some nonentity with blinkered vision.
RANT OVER