Tour Series Bath Gallery

Photos by Andrew Peat

Photos from the climax of the Tour Series in Bath

Has ever been a better time to be a bike rider in the UK? There’s more top level racing than you can shake a stick at, much of it on TV, yet more incentive for young British talent to shine. The Pearl Izumi Tour Series is the shop window, the showcase of British cycle sport, taking it to the people in busy city centres where large crowds are up close to the action, the effort clear to see. No wonder everyone loves a cyclist.

2015’s slick Pearl Izumi Tour Series was easily the best yet, with great circuits and even greater racing fought out by the latest generation of British pros. Plus there’s more and more women’s racing being both promoted by organisers and garnering greater media coverage.

When the Pearl Izumi Tour Series hit the streets of Bath – some of them cobbled – for its finale, it was accompanied by the final of the women’s Matrix Fitness Grand Prix series. Matrix Fitness are a long time supporter of women’s racing, but it’s also interesting to note that, such is the scale of cycling in the UK now, that many of the Tour Series’ sponsors are endemic to our sport – headline sponsor Pearl Izumi, plus Chain Reaction and their bike brand Vitus, and Vittoria tyres. Many coffee loving cyclists may also argue for Costa Express’s inclusion in that list, and many other brands – Premier Inn, Skoda, Yodel Direct and so on – are keen to associate themselves with the attractive cyclist demographic, recognised as a big spending group wherever we go – and we go to a lot of places!

In Bath, Andrew Peat was there to capture the action from both races. The next page is a gallery from the Matrix Fitness Grand Prix and the second from the Pearl Izumi Tour Series… See the pictures >