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Britain's top women's teams back on TV as dates announced for 2013 Johnson Health Tech Grand Prix Series

Stoke-on-Trent hosts first round, repeat visits to Colchester and Woking then first time for Ipswich and Aylsham

The 2013 Johnson Health Tech Grand Prix Series will get under way next month in the event sponsor’s home city of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, which will host the first of five rounds that pit Britain’s top women’s teams against each other. Highlights will be shown on ITV4 the evening after each race as part of coverage of the Pearl Izumi Tour Series.

Ipswich in Suffolk and Aylsham in Norfolk will both host races for the first time, while Colchester in Essex, one of last year’s venues, returns, as does Woking in Surrey, included in the augural series in 2011 and back for a third year.

“The 2012 Grand Prix Series was a fantastic showcase for women’s cycling in the UK, providing a wonderful opportunity for developing riders to battle against some of the UK's best women riders – head-to-head – in  front of the TV cameras” commented Johnson Health Tech UK’s managing director, Jon Johnston.

“With 2013 being such a pivotal year for women’s cycling, we are delighted to be able to support the Series again. Feedback received following last year has been great, and with several brand new women’s teams entering, this Series looks like it will be the best yet.

“Feedback also suggests that the Series raises public awareness of women’s cycling and sport, and is helping in a moderate way to encourage more women to get involved in fitness and physical activity” he added.

“This helps us meet some of our corporate social objectives, and, combined with the increase in public awareness of our company that the event generates, it’s a win-win situation for us to partner with The Pearl Izumi Tour Series, the host cities, and the organisers, SweetSpot”.

Series race director Mick Bennett added: “Women’s cycling continues to be on the rise with Britain having some of the world’s top athletes. We look forward to providing a first-class platform for them to compete on once again this Summer.

“With the final three Johnson Health Tech Grand Prix rounds at our final three venues, the battle for both men’s and women’s honours will be going all the way to the wire in East Anglia.”

Johnson Health Tech Grand Prix Series 2013

Round One     Tuesday 21st May        Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire
Round Two     Thursday 30th May       Colchester, Essex
Round Three   Tuesday 11th June       Woking, Surrey
Round Four    Thursday 13th June      Aylsham, Norfolk
Round Five    Friday 14th June        Ipswich, Suffolk

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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racingcondor | 11 years ago
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I wonder if the locations aren't partly down to availability of riders. If the series needs amateur teams with talented riders (like LMNH and presumably still the Rapha Condor women) to field enough riders and wants to avoid drop in teams then you can't expect riders to spend £100's on travel and use 5 days holiday for the opportunity to race a series, especially if the likes of Wiggle Honda are going to turn up and take all the winnings.

Great to see some serious promotion of the sport though. Thank you ITV4 and everyone who is involved in organising it.

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jdstrachan@yaho... | 11 years ago
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Ooh Stoke getting a stage again. And, oh, Yorkshire doesn't get a sniff again.

Thank God for the TdF Grand Depart next year or I think the Yorkshire public could be forgiven for forgetting what pro road cycling is  14

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Simon_MacMichael replied to jdstrachan@yahoo.co.uk | 11 years ago
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jdstrachan [at] yahoo.co.uk wrote:

Ooh Stoke getting a stage again. And, oh, Yorkshire doesn't get a sniff again.

Thank God for the TdF Grand Depart next year or I think the Yorkshire public could be forgiven for forgetting what pro road cycling is  14

Hmmmm, region that is home to less than one in ten of the GB population gets nearly a quarter of National A events (plus several others in neighbouring counties within easy reach):

Ryedale GP
Sheffield GP
Otley Cycle Races
East Yorkshire Classic
York Cycling City Races

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events?search_type=upcomingevents&keyw...

 26

And remind us where the Nats were last year....  3

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doc | 11 years ago
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You have to reckon that the races are held where someone is willing to pay what's needed to have them in their town. The organisers are professionals and need to make a living, so logically the races will be held where the client towns are. Given the popularity of the series it's quite possible that there were many more towns wanting a race than could be managed, and then there is always the matter of available dates. Never easy!
Looking back I think the series has had a fair spread over the years, and nobody can surely see any particular area as having more than another. After all, the women's series is 5 rounds, the Tour Series is 11 and goes from Kirkcaldy, Durham, Redditch, Aberwystwyth, Stoke, Woking, London, Ipswich, near Norwich, Torquay, etc., hardly SE centric! Ladies at Stoke, Colchester, Ipswich, Alysham (near Norwich), Woking. Again I guess it depends on the towns and available time in the overall programme of closures, etc..
Easy, ain't it?

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notfastenough | 11 years ago
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Fair point, I hadn't even noticed that. That is quite odd. I wonder if there were issues finding enough councils to support it or something?

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Bhachgen | 11 years ago
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I know it gets boring when people based outside the south east grumble about geography, but really this is frankly bizarre.

Great news about the ITV4 coverage though.

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notfastenough | 11 years ago
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Sounds good. Anyone got an ITV4 calendar for the year's programming re cycling? Does such a thing exist?

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