Following its successful debut in 2011 with Jan Barta placing third overall and Leo König fifth, Team NetApp will be competing once again in Great Britain, beginning September 9, in its last tour of this season. The riders will crisscross the entire island over eight stages. The tour kicks off in southeastern England, and then the riders will head up north to the border with Scotland. The route then leads back to the extreme south before crossing the finish line in Guildford, which is near London. A total of 1,350 kilometers will be covered on bike. This year’s Tour of Britain has a great field of riders competing after the euphoria of the Olympics, including Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins and top sprinter Mark Cavendish.

The ninth edition of the Tour of Britain will kick off this year in Ipswich. Once again it will be a stage for sprinters. From there the tour will head to Nottingham, Knowsley and Merseyside, Scotland, the northwest, Stoke-on-Trent, Wales and Devon before wrapping things up in the challenging final stage in the Surrey Hills region with a climb to the finish in Guildford on the famous cobblestoned High Street. Between start and finish the riders will face many category-one mountain classifications, especially in the Peak District, central Wales and Dartmoor.

“The tour won’t be easy, neither in terms of its length nor the stiff competition. The Tour of Britain ranks right up there, and many good riders will be competing there. To start off we’ll have a flat stage along the North Sea coast, where the wind may play a decisive role. The following stages will be significantly hillier. Although the mountain climbs aren’t exceedingly long, one shouldn't underestimate them either. The peaks are mostly exposed. If you don’t watch out, you could ride into a crosswind and lose any chance of a good finish. A breakaway group could produce a preliminary decision halfway through the tour. So the main thing is to be right there and part of it. We’re optimistic in terms of our riders who did very well in the general classification last year and who can score a good result this year as well,” explained Enrico Poitschke, Sport Director for Team NetApp.

Line-Up:
Daniel Schorn, Blaz Jarc, Jan Barta, Bartosz Huzarski, Leopold König, Cesare Benedetti

 Stages:
 1 stage: Ipswich to Norfolk Showground (189,9 km)
 2 stage: Nottingham to Knowsley (177,8 km)
 3 stage: Jedburgh to Dumfries  (161,4 km)
 4 stage: Carlisle to Blackpool (156 km)
 5 stage: The Stoke on Trent Stage (146,9 km)
 6 stage: Welshpool to Caerphilly (189,9 km)
 7 stage: Barnstaple to Dartmouth (170,7 km)
 8 stage: Reigate to Guildford (147,7 km)

Website Tour of Britain