Under the bonnet of
the Tour of Britain
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goes behind the scenes to meet the people who make the Tour of Britain happen
Andy Hawes is the man who plans the routes and drives them multiple times in the months before each edition of the Tour of Britain, and is then on the back of a motorbike during the race.
“I always have one stage which for me will be the stage I can’t wait for, but this year I’m kind of tied between two: Stage 6 from Carlisle to Gateshead and Stage 8 to Aberdeen.”
Andy decides where the Tour of Britain goes – or at least how it travels from those towns signed up to host it – and by the time September rolls around he knows every kilometre of tarmac, every sharp turn and every narrower-than-tyre-width gap in every cattle grid.
The willingness – often eagerness – of local authorities to host the race gives Andy a steer as to where each stage of each edition of the race might go.
“Where to take the race is sometimes a little bit decided for me,” he explains. “It starts with our commercial team having conversations with regions, areas, local councils, and nine times out of 10 I’m presented with a start location and a finish location, and then it’s my job to get the race from A to B.”
The route director
Andy Hawes
“Stage 6 from Carlisle to Gateshead and Stage 8 to Aberdeen will provide some ‘wow’ moments.”
Andy Hawes performing his regulator role during the Tour of Britain on Brill Hill in Buckinghamshire in 2017
However, there’s a lot more to it than the quickest route suggested by Google Maps. “It depends on what we want the race to be, whether it’s a hilly stage, a flat stage, a sprint stage, a time-trial, a team time-trial, so it all varies from there. Basically, as you’d imagine, it starts with a start and finishes with a finish and I just join the two up,” he laughs.
His job starts months, sometimes years, before each edition of the Tour of Britain. “We have a good idea of where we’re starting and finishing two years in advance, which is always quite good. It can be a real mixture of timing but generally, 18 months in advance.”
Even so, with the race route seemingly set, communicated to the teams and publicised to the public, changes can occur, which happened very recently ahead of the 2021 race. “Maybe eight weeks ago we had a start venue which had to pull out and we had to scramble around to try and find a new venue at really short notice. So yeah, it’s a real mixture of timing!”
An occurrence Andy regularly comes across is locals with route ideas. “I quite often think of my job as a football manager’s job, because everybody in the world can do a better job than the current football manager and it’s exactly the same for me: everybody’s a route director, everybody can plan a route. Which is great,” he adds; and he sounds sincere about that!
“It’s interesting that people are as passionate as I am about this sport and it’s good to see that they can look at the route and think, ‘you know what, I’m going to put my stamp on it now.’
“It’s great but you know, as I say, it’s like the football manager – everybody thinks they can do your job but all they see is the finished product, they don’t understand the process that we’ve been through to get the riders on the road that day.”
For the person charged with deciding where the route goes, which in turn will dictate which kind of rider is likely to win it overall, picking a favourite stage must be for Andy like a parent picking a favourite child, which is why this year, he is torn between Stage 6 from Carlisle to Gateshead and Stage 8 to Aberdeen. “I’ve driven extensively in this country and on these two stages I’ve had those ‘wow’ moments. They’re two incredible stages,” he says.
Andy is a cyclist himself, but time pressures dictate that more often than not he must drive, rather than cycle, most of the route during the planning and checking phases. Even so, his bike comes in handy when it’s not being ridden, too.“
My bike is always in the car and quite often if I get the chance to go out and ride the route [I will], but when we’re out driving the routes the primary thing is that we’re getting everything ready and as safe as we can for the event.
“Recently, we were at the foot of the final KoM [King of the Mountains classified climb] on Stage 7 and about 200 metres into the climb there’s a cattle grid, so we stopped – we inspect all the cattle grids – and there’s a gap which made me a little bit concerned, so I got my front bike wheel out of the car and just rolled it to see if it would go down that gap. It didn’t so I thought: ‘I’m happy with that, that’s safe’.
“That’s the kind of detail we go into.”
“I manage the results and I love doing what I do. I love being a part of the Tour of Britain.”
The Chief Judge
Carole Leigh
Carole Leigh is an unsung hero of cycling in Britain and works across many races. At the Tour of Britain, she is the chief judge – not to be confused with the chief commissaire – and timekeeper.
“The role of chief judge differs to that of chief commissaire,” she explains patiently, despite this not being the first time she’s had to do so. “The chief commissaire is in charge of the race once it starts; they are overseeing the sporting element of the race so they are the absolute chief. At the Tour of Britain they’re called the ‘commissaire president’.
“Chief judge is in charge of the results. It is my role to ensure the intermediate sprints and the King of the Mountains are covered by my team, as well as the final results of the race. So yes, I manage the results as such – I ensure we get a result out at the end of it.
”Managing the team is a big part of her role at the race, and it is very much her team. “I love doing what I do. I love being a part of the Tour of Britain and it’s a privilege to be a part of it, to be honest. I’ve done it for some years now and it’s nice that the organisers have the confidence in me to bring my own team in, and I bring people in that I know I can trust to do the job.”
It’s a job that has increased in scope in recent years thanks to the coverage the race is now getting. “Now it’s on live TV there's quite a lot of pressure because we don’t have transponders at the intermediate primes [sprints and King of the Mountain points].” In practice, this means someone must race ahead of the peloton on a motorcycle, hop off and watch the order in which the riders cross those intermediate markers. “We do what we can do to get the results and we have never not got a result, let’s put it that way. I have the confidence in the team I pull together to get a result.
”Although things have improved recently, cycling is still a male-dominated sport. Asked whether being a female official in that environment has been difficult, Carole is emphatic in her answer. “I am proud of where I am. I know, and I hope others know, that I am there because of my ability and not my gender. I don’t see myself as anything but an official, absolutely not. I have never ever come across any barriers and I know I am respected by my colleagues. I always felt equal.”
As the pandemic took hold last year, the Tour of Britain was cancelled – or rather postponed, as this year’s route is the one that would have been raced last year.
Despite the cancellation and uncertainty as to what the situation would be this year, Carole knew the Tour of Britain would be back. “I had confidence in the organisation and the passion for what they do. I know they would have moved heaven and earth to actually get the race back on. The Tour of Britain is a fantastic event, it has grown in stature over the years and is a well respected race by the teams, both at home and abroad.
”The race’s return this weekend is something she, like many fans of cycling, is understandably very pleased about. “It's amazing to have the Tour of Britain back after it was cancelled last year. It’s fantastic to be back and it’s not just at the elite level, it’s cycling in general.
”As a fan of cycling, as well as someone holding several key positions in it at a number of different levels, Carole is also thinking ahead to the sporting element of the race as well as the results she’ll be overseeing.
“This year will be interesting as all five British Conti [Continental, third tier] teams are competing. They will be up against some tough opposition.
”With the best sprinter the world has ever seen in the shape of Britain’s own Mark Cavendish, as well as Belgian superstar Wout Van Aert – the rider who recently beat Cavendish in the closing sprint of the Tour de France – Carole is spot on about the quality of the opposition.
“I run my ŠKODA Superb guest car like a team car: I haven’t got a big sweaty mechanic or a toolbox in the back, but inside we’ll operate like a team car.”
Guest car driver
David Povall
Dave Povall is a former team manager, and he brings that experience and expertise to his more recent role at the Tour of Britain, where he is charged with driving guests and competition winners around a stage of the race in the ŠKODA Superb. But it’s not just about seeing the start and driving ahead in time to see the finish; with Dave, the guests meet many big name riders and get as close to being a member of a cycling team’s support staff as they’re ever likely to.
Thanks to his time working with the British domestic cycling teams, Dave has met many riders in their younger years who have gone on to ride at the WorldTour, cycling’s top tier. They don’t forget where they’ve come from, though, and will happily stop to speak to Dave and his guests on the morning of a Tour of Britain stage. What’s more, he’s keen to ensure the riders aren’t kept from their morning routines for too long, which makes them more likely to stop the following day when he’ll have a new group of guests.
He explains, “I’m kind of lucky that riders will remember that. Without the cooperation of those riders, the experience for the guests wouldn’t be as good. It could be your neo-pro, it could be somebody like James Shaw at Lotto-Soudal. When he was there, he would stop for me every morning.
“Equally, Cav [Mark Cavendish], would stop for me. Nine mornings out of 10 he will stop, just for a minute, shoot the breeze, people can get a photo, we can have a bit of a giggle and he’ll go. Without the cooperation of the pros it wouldn’t be possible to give guests and fans the same level of experience.
“I think there’s a level of trust that they know I’m not going to be holding them up from their routine pre-race, it is literally a minute. The year Brad [Wiggins] rode, his final year, he was fantastic. At sign on, he and Owain [Doull] would look, they’d know it was me and just come across to the guests – not for me, for the guests – knowing it’s a minute of their day but it literally means the world to these fans.”
Chatting with British sprinter Dan McLay ahead of the start in Glasgow
Dave’s week at each edition of the Tour of Britain is all about ensuring those lucky enough to get a seat in his ŠKODA – during what he calls “a money-can’t-buy experience” – is as good as it can be: so much so, in fact, that he realised he’d taken plenty of photos of his guests with riders but hasn’t got a single one of himself with them.
Once the pre-race meets and photos have been done, an added part of the experience is the car itself, which forms an integral part of the race day experience. “I run my ŠKODA Superb guest car like a team car: I’ve got a race radio, I’ll have the sheet with GC [General Classification], KoMs [King of the Mountain Climbs] and what have you taped either on the dash or on the steering wheel. I haven’t got a big sweaty mechanic or a toolbox in the back, and I haven’t got the bikes on the roof, but inside we’ll operate like a team car.”
A big difference that a lot of people notice when visiting a professional bike race for the first time, even those familiar with watching it on television, is just how much faster the riders are than your average weekend cyclist. This is a realisation Dave enjoys seeing people get to out on the roadside.
“Let’s use Cav as an example again. People realise, ‘he isn’t a tester [time-trial specialist], he’s only coming in 60th or 40th but he’s just put four minutes into me!’ I think they see that when they’re in the car as well, they see what speed things are moving at. We go booting on ahead for maybe 10 minutes, 15 minutes in the car and by the time they get out, bite a corner of their sandwich, the breakaway’s there. That’s another good thing about being in the race convoy, they get a better perception of the speed at which the riders cover the ground.”
His day doesn’t end when the race does, especially at an event like the Tour of Britain which is often characterised by long transfers between stages. “I have to drive for another two hours ready to do it all again the next day. Obviously the car needs to be ready, so it wants cleaning inside and out because it’s got to look like a brand new ŠKODA the next day and that responsibility lies with me. So it’s my responsibility to make sure the car’s fuelled and blitzed so it looks like a brand new ŠKODA when it turns up at the start tomorrow, and we do it all again.”
Dave clearly enjoys his role as a guest car driver, ensuring that fans get the kind of experience usually reserved for others.
“Generally I think they have a good day, you know. I work very hard to make sure they have a good day. It sounds fun, and for you, if you tagged along, you’d have a great day because you’d love it, you’d be buzzing, and you’d think ‘this is class’.
“But it is pretty hard work. Especially in the UK [thanks to cycling’s recently increased popularity], just moving the car through some of these big KoMs [King of the Mountain climbs], there’s massive crowds on the side of the road and you’re trying to press on ahead, the race can be closing in on you and there could serious risks for a less experienced driver. I think you only get that insight when you’re in the car.”
Official Photographer
Simon Wilkinson
“Being on the back of a motorbike photographing a bike race, there’s no better seat in the house. It’s a privilege.”
The first thing that Simon Wilkinson wants to make clear is that his job photographing the race is only possible thanks to the team of people he has alongside him. This is true to such an extent that he even jokingly describes himself as “a taxi driver”, but laughs and reiterates that he is, of course, a photographer too.
“It’s a team effort. We usually have two photographers [at the Tour of Britain],” he explains, after first explaining that his two main colleagues are both called Alex. “One of the Alexes is on a motorbike, and then I’ll chase the race in my car.”
This is where his claim to being a cabbie comes in. “The thing is I’m a taxi driver, because at the end of the day you’ve got to get the photographer, who’s been on a motorbike all day, to the next hotel that night, and transfers can be quite long on the Tour of Britain.”
That covers what he’s up to each evening after the race, but he’s got hectic days ahead of him during each stage. “When you’re chasing the race in a car you normally do a start picture, you know: ‘the Tour of Britain rolls out of Penzance’.
“I always think that the first picture of the first stage at the first roll out has got to be a bit of a statement photographically. It’s the start of the Tour of Britain, you know. There’s no point in relying on a picture taken from the back of a motorbike in the neutral roll out of Mark Cavendish smiling at the TV camera, it’s pointless. You’ve got to have a big picture.
”Once he’s got that big picture it’s then a case of getting clear of the race in order to beat it to the finish line, or make a call to cut it off sooner for the opportunity of a better shot, knowing he could then potentially miss that finish line photo.
“I would often do the start and leave the opposite way to the race and go and find somewhere halfway, a third of the way or two thirds of the way on. I mean, you always want to get back to the finish.
“One of the problems is, you can imagine on the back of a motorbike you can’t carry your big lens with you because you’re not going to need it while you’re shooting off the back of a motorbike but you need it at the finish line. So one of things I do is, I rock up at the finish line, then I try to do a bit of a different finish line picture, more of a generic, scenic finish line picture if it works. But one of the reasons I’m desperate to get to the finish line is to give the big lens to whoever’s getting off the motorbike. Sometimes they’re only arriving a minute before the finish of the race.”
However, this is where a judgement call has to be made. “Sometimes you just, for whatever reason, you know you’re going to miss the finish because you’re sacrificing that finish picture because maybe there’s a great scenic picture to do 10 minutes before the finish. Some of the best pictures of bike races are because somebody has sacrificed the finish; they’ve gone for a picture 20 minutes from the finish line or something like that.”
Yet this is rarely a call that ‘Team SWPix’ has to make because, as Simon puts it, “we’re lucky: there’s always two of us and somebody’s always going to be at the finish.”
Simon will drive the car when he needs to, ensuring that between them one of his team gets all the photographs the Tour of Britain needs, but he’s happy to admit where he’d rather be during a stage of the Tour of Britain.
“Being sat on the back of a motorbike photographing a bike race, there’s no better seat in the house. It’s a fantastic experience, it’s a great thing, it’s a privilege. Especially if you’ve got some motorcycle rider who knows what they’re doing; they’re usually Belgian!”
Photo credits: SWPix / Above Air Media
Andy Hawes with Sgt Duncan Street, who leads the police’s Central Escort Group at the Tour of Britain
Among Carole’s jobs on the Tour is setting the riders off for time trials, seen here with the JLT Condor team in the 2018 race
Dave with multiple Tour of Britain stage winner Elia Viviani during the 2016 race in Congleton
A familiar sight at every start and finish of the Tour of Britain, Simon and his team’s images put the Tour of Britain on screens around the world
Jack Elton-Walters
