Scotland is set to be the latest corner of the world to experience the growth of professional women's cycling as the UCI announced the Women's Tour of Scotland, a brand new professional race debuting in August 2019.
The race will play part of an annual cycling festival across Scotland that will combine a multi-day professional stage race for the women's peloton with a new 5,000 rider strong sportive to tackle some of the same roads.
The UCI has confirmed that this new race will form part of the women's professional cycling calendar with the dates set for Friday 9th to Sunday 11th August 2019.
This places the new race just one week after the Prudential RideLondon Classique, a women's WorldTour event, which should hopefully help attract some of the best riders in the female field.
As of yet, the 350km across the Scottish countryside that the professionals will face has not been put into a finalised route although event organiser, Zeus Sports, promises that what 'the professional athletes will take on will show off Scotland’s stunning landscape to a global TV audience.'
Managing Director of Zeus Sport, Darren Clayton, also commented that, 'We want to raise awareness of female cycling on a global scale and there’s no better backdrop than the Scottish landscape to show off the sport at its best.'
This new event will be the only UCI-registered professional road race that will take place entirely in Scotland. The men's Tour of Britain has visited in the past but the Women's Tour is yet to head north, across the border.
It will, however, join the Women's Tour, RideLondon Classique and women's Tour de Yorkshire as the fourth major women's professional cycling race in the UK, furthering Britain's claim to being one of the most forward countries for gender equality in professional cycling.
CEO of Scottish Cycling, Craig Burn, was particularly pleased with the decision, seeing it as the perfect opportunity to promote cycling in Scotland.
'We're incredibly proud to be working with the team at the Women's Tour of Scotland to make this become an iconic race on the professional cycling calendar,' said Burn.
'The event will provide a fantastic opportunity to showcase the talent and passion that exists within the sport here in Scotland.
'As well as the elite level competition, the mass participation element provides a great platform for those involved with the sport at a grassroots level to sample a unique atmosphere and to be inspired for the future.'
Julie Harrington, chief executive of British Cycling, also commented on this new cycling festival, expressing her delight 'to be associated with a race which will give some of the world’s best riders a fantastic stage on which to showcase our sport.
'We are proud to have worked with our colleagues at Scottish Cycling to support the development of an event which will inspire people across Scotland and beyond to get active by getting on their bikes.'