What’s this all about?
Sounds great! What else?
Alongside the Women’s Tour, there will be a Community Sports Festival in Higginson Park, 9am to 3pm. Activities in the park will include: outdoor spinning sessions, rollapaluza (a type of roller-racing), adaptive bikes, scaletrix track, electric velodrome, a Watt bike test, bell boating on the Thames, badminton serving challenge , short tennis , discgolf , running information from Marlow Striders, and bike safety checks.
Who is riding?
There will be nearly 100 riders, including seven of the world’s current top ten. Several national champions will be racing, and plenty of Olympic medal winners. Some familiar British names include Laura Trott, Joanna Rowsell, Lizzie Armitstead, Dame Sarah Storey, and we will be running a feature on the riders to watch in due course!
Where are they going, and when? I need details!
It is worth noting – the start will be “neutralised” in that the riders will set off together, and stay together until they are near Medmenham when it ” de-neutralises” and the race really gets underway. So when they start on the High Street you won’t see riders jostling for positions, it should be a reasonably ordered procession.
- 10 mins before start- Presentation of Race Leaders
- Riders assemble on start line
- 10.45 Start of Stage 5, Marlow High St
- 15 mins later Race de-neutralises, near Medmenham
Click on our local map snippet for a larger version showing the initial stage of the race, as it leaves Marlow.
Here is a link to the official map for the entire Stage 5.
How can I tell who is the race leader?
Just like in the Tour de France and other races, special tops will be awarded for race leaders, and others including the best climber (“Queen of the Mountains”), and sprinter (generally the the “Points Jersey” holder).
What if I’m not in Marlow?
The race is being covered daily, on ITV4 – a one hour “highlights” show at 8pm, repeated the following morning. We should add: Marlow might not feature much – these shows often just feature the later parts of a race – since the start is not necessarily the most exciting part- unless you are there watching it in person of course!!
Road closure details
The whole of the High Street, Marlow will be closed from 4am to 2pm, including Marlow bridge. The aim is for the bottom end of the High Street (past Station Road roundabout) and the bridge to reopen as soon as possible after the riders depart at 11am.
Pound Lane will be closed from 8am to 12 midday from the High Street roundabout to Malthouse Way.
Pound Lane car park will also be closed to the public until 2pm on the day of the race.
For the remainder of the route, rolling road closures will be implemented in order to minimise disruption but ensure rider safety. Anyone with travel plans may want to avoid the Tour route as far as possible.
As you might well expect, at MyMarlow.co.uk we will remain ALL OVER this event, including coverage on Sunday 21st – so keep checking our website and social media for updates!
