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Tour of Britain departs today from Rochdale

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The Grand Depart for the Tour of Britain heads out of Rochdale this morning at 10:30am. It’s fair to assume that the pro-tour event should cause a bigger stir than the arrival of Walsall later in the afternoon for a lower league football match. But, this is England and, you never can tell!

Sky will be looking to steal the show in more ways than one. They will be wearing a unique Rainforest Rescue team kit which looks pretty cool and have Bradley Wiggins in their line-up, fresh from his success in the GB time trial national championships.

Another notable rider in the peloton is Jonny Bellis, riding for Team Saxo Bank. Bellis is making a steady comeback from a horrific road accident which very nearly claimed his life last year. He is a Manxman who hasn’t dominated the limelight in the same way as Mark Cavendish but is a hugely talented ride and one we will be following with interest over the coming week.

Tomorrow’s first stage get’s going upwards fairly quickly. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find any detailed information on the course (climbbybike is useful but not comprehensive) but the first sprint points are up for grabs after just 2.1kms and is followed by the first KOM after 24.5kms. Expect some of the punchier riders who can keep with the pace up the hills and gun it at the end to do well this week. For me that puts Greg Henderson of Team Sky amongst the favourites and I can also see Heinrich Haussler Andre Gr

Whoever rolls into London wearing the leader’s jersey you will have the opportunity to ride Stage 8’s route before them and then watch them from the VIP gallery. The flat 12km course won’t be nearly as painful as the Etape du Tour and it will be a great day out helping raise money and awareness for a very worthwhile cause The Prostate Cancer Charity. Details can be found here.