Insider's Guide

Imagine Manchester United or AC Milan coming to play a free football match in your local park? An event where you could just walk up and watch the best in the World play, without having to pay a penny!

Welcome to bike racing!!!

Cycling is the world’s BIGGEST free sporting spectacle, no stadiums, no admission fee’s just a great big free show that comes to you on your streets! The Tour de Bretagne will hit Jersey’s shores for the second time on Sunday 25th and Monday 26th April.

Can you afford to be anywhere else?

The Tour de Bretagne is a race steeped in history. Known for most of its existence as the Ruben Grantier Breton, it is renowned as hard race for tough riders. Definitely not one for the faint hearted!

The race started in 1967, it is now one of the most important week long stage races on the UCI European Tour.

For 2010 the organizers have assembled an exciting multi national field full of current and past national, world and Olympic champions.

You can watch teams from France, Belgium, Netherlands, Great Britain, Norway, Russia and USA. For the first time ever you will be able to cheer on a local rider in Tobyn Horton, the first Channel Islander to make it into the ranks of professional cycling.

What is a stage race?

A stage race as it is known in cycling, is a multi stage event that can consist of point to point stages, circuit races and time trials. The rider with the lowest accumulated time is declared the overall winner. A rider does not have to win all or any of the stages for that matter to win the race overall.

In the Tour de Bretagne there are six road stages and one individual time trial.

What do the various jerseys represent?

Stages races have classifications and awards, such as the 'King of the Mountains', or young rider, or points leader. Here's our quick guide to the jerseys worn out on the course during the event:

		General classification The race leaders jersey or general classification jersey is White, with a Green band. The rider who is covering the Tour de Bretagne in the shortest time possible will wear this. Remember you don’t have to win all the stages or any for that matter to be the overall race winner, just be consistent and gain time where possible.   TIME BONUS’ - during each stage there are valuable seconds on offer along the route and on the finish line. If you win these bonus seconds they are deducted from your overall time. 3”, 2” & 1” seconds are on offer during the stage and 10”, 6” & 4” seconds on the finish line. The race can be won and lost on these bonus seconds, so anyone with serious designs on this race cannot relax for a second!
		King of the Mountains The hills in the Tour de Bretagne are classified. The climbs are categorized as 1st, 2nd and 3rd category depending on their severity, first being the toughest. At the summit of each climb points are awarded for the first riders over the top.   The rider with the most points in this competition wears the coveted polka dot jersey that signifies they are the best climber in the race.   Cat 1: 1st 10 Points, 2nd 8 points, 3rd 6 points, 4th 4 points, 5th 2 points, 6th 1 point Cat 2: 1st 6 points, 2nd 4 points, 3rd 2 points, 4th 1 points Cat 3: 1st 4  points, 2nd 2 points, 3rd 1 points
		Young Riders Jersey Within the race overall we also have an eye on the future. The best placed rider overall Under 23 years old will wear the RED jersey.   This competition is decided on time, working back from the first placed rider under twenty three.
		Points Jersey At the end of each stage points are awarded to the riders as they cross the line the rider who accumulates the most points is deemed the winner of the race on points. The green jersey is generally one for the sprinters who see it as a reinforcement of their speed and power to wear green!   Twenty points are awarded for the winner down to one point for 20th on road stages and 12 points down for the winner down to one point for to 10th on the time trial.  Points won on the intermediate sprints also count towards this competition.
		Intermediate Sprints (RUSH) Jersey Within each stage there are intermediate sprints for points. These count towards the BLUE jersey.   The rider who wins this competition has to be vigilant and be able to contest sprints throughout each stage for the entire race. 5, 3. 2 and 1 points and 3”, 2” and 1” seconds are up for grabs at these sprint points. If the race for the general classification is tight, these sprints are vital.
		Combined Classification Jersey If you’re Mr Consistent then going for the combined classification could be the one for you!   This competition is signified by an orange jersey. It is calculated by adding the places from the general classification, king of the mountains and intermediate sprints competitions together.   A rider must be ranked in two of the three competitions to be counted for this jersey.   So make sure you don’t rush off after the stages are finished! Stay and watch the jersey presentations, champagne will be sprayed and flowers are generally thrown into the crowd!

What are the courses and where should I watch the race?

Magnus Backstedts Course Review

Road Race course

Stage Start: 13:30
Estimated Finish Time: 16:45

The road race course for the first stage on Jersey is a very interesting one. This could turn out to be much tougher than most riders expect it will be.

At a first glance it looks very flat, but when you start adding up all the little climbs and the fairly big climb half way round the course, you will have almost 2000m of altitude to climb.

No doubt this will catch a few by surprise and as it is the first day of racing some might not have their legs working 100% just yet.

The main points for spectators will be start/finish area with all of the activities available there.

Some of the more interesting points will be from St Martin's Church at the top of the hill. Because of the climb you will have plenty of time to go see the riders go past and most likely you will see the winning move if there is one, being made on this hill as well.

If you are a bit more of a speed demon and like the fast technical stuff, I would suggest getting to Grouville Parish. There are some very technical turns that will be taken at high speed.

Another great point would be at Gorey harbour. Sit back have a drink in one of the many coffee shops or bars and watch the riders swing past you.

Riders to watch

Laurent Pichon  (FRA) Bretagne Schuller
Jonathan Thire (FRA) BIG MAT-AUBER 93
Andrew Tennant (GB) Great Britain National Team
Kristian House (GB) Rapha-Sharp
Tobyn Horton (GB) Team Sprocket
Alex Candelario (USA) Kelly Benefits Strategies
Nahir Haddou (FRA) BIG MAT-AUBER 93
Alexander Mironov (ITERA-Katusha)

The Time Trial course

First Rider Starts: 09:15
Last Rider Starts: 11:46

This is one of the more spectacular time trial courses I have seen in a while. The fast straight road of “5mile road”, the tough climb up to St Ouen and the very fast decent down towards 5 mile road again all promises that the stage winner will be a very good all round time triallist.

If you like speed, you should watch the riders coming on to the 5 mile road at the very top of the course. They are likely to hit speeds in the region of 50-55mph.

This years Tour de Bretagne could very well be won overall by the rider who wins here.

Over the years it has become very well known in the world of cycling that if you are a good time triallist you can win stage races like this that are tough, but has no high mountains.

I would therefore suggest that you keep an eye out for some specific time trial specialists who can also do a bit of a sprint when they have to.

Some of those guys would be:

Evgeni Popov (Itera-Katusha)
Alexander Porsev (Itera-Katusha)
Ed Clancy (GB) Great Britain
Steven Burke (GB) Great Britain
Alex Wetterhall (Sweden) Team Sprocket
Scott Zwisanski (USA) Kelly Benefits Strategies
Jack Anderson (AUS) (Team Sprocket)

The Teams

The race is contested by teams made up of 6 riders.

COTES D'ARMOR MARIE ROBIN (FRA)
BBOX BOUYGUES TELECOM (FRA)
RABOBANK (NED)
BRETAGNE SCHULLER (FRA)
VAN VLIET EBH (NED)
ROUBAIX LILLE METROPOLE (NED)
JONG VLAANDEREN BAUKNECHT JARTAZY (BEL)
JOKER BIANCHI (NOR)
VC LA POMME MARSEILLE (FRA)
TEAM SPROCKET (SWE)
RAPHA CONDOR SHARP (GB)
ITERA KATYUSHA (RUS)
THURINGER ENERGIE TEAM
EQUIPE NATIONALE GRANDE BRETAGNE (GB)
BEVEREN 2000 / QUICK STEP (BEL)
TEAM U NANTES ATALANTIQUE (FRA)
BIG MAT - AUBER 93 (FRA)
S.C.O DIJON TEAM LAPIERRE (FRA)
C.C NOGENT SUR OISE (FRA)
TEAM ATLAS PERSONNAL BMC (SWI)
SELECTION DE BRETAGNE (FRA)

About our Insiders

Magnus Backstedt retired from the top flight of professional cycling after a thirteen year career. During his career Backstedt won some of the biggest races in the World including stages of the Tour de France and Giro D’Italia (Tour of Italy) as well as the famous single day cobbled classic Paris-Roubaix. Magnus now works as an expert TV pundit on Eurosport and other TV channels.

Marty MacDonald has worked as a cycling commentator and presenter on programmes that have been broadcast on Eurosport, SKY Sports and Cycling.tv among others. Marty has an unique infectious style of commentary that appeals to both hardened fans and newcomers alike.

Together they run the Sprocket ProCycling team and Magnus and Marty will provide expert commentary onsite at the Tour de Bretagne to truly bring the race to life for you the spectators.

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