The Tour of Britain "will now be shown live on ITV4 and British Eurosport," according to John MacLeary of London TELEGRAPH. The news came 48 hours after race organizers SweetSpot were handed a five-year contract extension to run the race after British Cycling had, in Dec. '12, "put the race out to tender." SweetSpot CEO Hugh Roberts said, "We are delighted to once again be able to confirm live television coverage for The Tour of Britain." It is understood that "part of the renewed contract included" assurances from SweetSpot that the organization can convince the Int'l Cycling Union (UCI) that it "should be handed UCI 2. HC status, an improvement on its current UCI 2.1 classification and just one below the WorldTour" (TELEGRAPH, 8/1). SPORT's Kev Monks wrote this year's Tour of Britain runs from Sept. 15-22, starting in Peebles in the Scottish Borders and ending "with the final stage at the heart of London." In addition to live coverage, ITV4 will continue to broadcast the highly popular daily highlights programs of The Tour of Britain each evening, as the channel has done since '08, "while British Eurosport will also show highlights each evening of the day's action" (SPORT, 8/2).
