Route for the Women’s Tour cycling 2022 race to include Chipping Norton and Milcombe near Banbury

The route for the Women’s Tour cycling race has been unveiled, and includes areas close to Banbury such as Milcombe and Chipping Norton.

Residents between Chipping Norton, Carterton, Faringdon, Didcot and Oxford will be able to cheer on elite riders when this year’s Women’s Tour professional cycling race comes to Oxfordshire on Saturday June 11. The full route details were revealed today, Wednesday April 13.

Hosting for the third consecutive edition by Oxfordshire County Council, and the county’s city and district councils, Oxfordshire will be the venue for the final stage of the 2022 race.

The 145 kilometre (90 mile) route will pass through many picture-postcard locations, including taking in one of Britain’s most loved areas, the Cotswolds. It will head as far north as Milcombe – a short distance from Banbury where Italian rider Marta Bastianelli triumphed in the 2021 race – before changing course and travelling south through West Oxfordshire towards RAF Brize Norton in Carterton.

Stage six will also feature Faringdon – which memorably turned pink when the race visited in 2019 – and Didcot in the Vale of White Horse and South Oxfordshire districts respectively.

Riders will cross the River Thames using the Folly Bridge as the race enters Oxford from its south side. In what promises to be a truly stunning end to the 2022 race, the stage will finish on the historic St Giles’.

Over 100 professional riders will weave their way through towns, villages and rural areas, and it is hoped that local schools will be inspiring to organise themed sport and fitness lessons.

Families are expected to line the route to cheer on competitors, turning the event into an exciting community spectacle.

Created by SweetSpot Group in 2014, the Women’s Tour is the UK’s first international stage race for women, bringing the world’s top riders to compete in Great Britain as a part of the UCI Women’s WorldTour.

The race, which has been won by the likes of Marianne Vos (2014), Lizzie Deignan (2016, 2019) and Demi Vollering (2021), attracts an annual roadside audience of 300,000, as well as over three million fans through linear and online platforms.