The Tour of Britain cycle race returns to the UK after an absence of five years with the finest field of professional cyclists in its long history, and Škoda is proud to be the official car company of the Tour. Running from 1-5 September, the Tour will cross the UK from the start in Manchester to the finish in London.

Sixteen teams will battle it out over five days of riding to achieve overall position on the podium in London on Sunday September 5. An international field of teams will compete, including many of the best teams in the world. They will be challenged by national teams from the UK, as they compete for the yellow leader’s jersey as well as the other competitions within the race –the polka-dot jersey for the King of the Mountain, the green points jersey and the blue sprinter’s jersey.

The Tour of Britain will start in Manchester on 1 September, travel through Leeds and the Yorkshire Dales on the 2nd; tackle Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire on the 3rd; Newport and Southeast Wales on Saturday, 4 September, finishing with a spectacular stage through Whitehall in Central London on Sunday, 5 September.

Škoda is providing a total of 30 cars that will be used by officials of the Tour for a variety of purposes, including the top-of-the range Superb, the new Octavia hatch and the current-model Octavia Estate. The cars will travel with the riders each day as they make their way through the stages.

Chris Craft, Brand Director for Škoda UK commented, "It is a natural fit for Škoda to participate in the Tour of Britain. Škoda started out by making bicycles in the Czech Republic in 1895, and then progressed to making some of the best cars in Europe. We’re proud to be part of the revival of the Tour of Britain and wish the riders and organisers all the best."

good - its nowhere near sussex!

after the chaos when tour de france came here thats a huge relief

besides how come they can race on the public highway and close roads to that extent??

Don't know just how much road closing wwill be going on - stack of the team cars and bikes just by the bottom of Manchester Victoria station and Chethams last night. Didn't see any Skoda though - just what appeared to be a VW Polo (could have been wrong though) with tour of Britain written across the side, and a Team T-Mobile A4 Avant complete with pink bikes all across the top.

They where due to start riding yesterday, so why everyone seemed to still be in Manchester around 5:30 yesterday I'll never understand..........

Stage races are dodgy as hell in this country as they only have rolling road closures unlike in France when they shut down for the day.

Good job, nice find.

Good job, nice find.

And you - the thread is nearly four years old!

Must have taken some searching!

Considering Laurin&Klement association in building bicycles and even mopeds and motorcycles, its not surprising to see that they are official car company of a cycle "Tour".

A gentleman named Narcis Podsednicek was the first official driver of Laurin&Klement, driving those bicycles, and he was racing for them in the 1902 .

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Octy 2, 1.9 TDI PD Ambiente 4x4 Combi and Nissan Sunny 2.0 DLX, Company Octy 1.9 TDI Tour Combi.