Tour of Britain: Stage two preview!

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It’s the ninth time that the Tour of Britain has visited the Scottish Borders, but the first time that the riders will finish in the historic county town of Duns. Hawick was also the starting point of stage seven in 2021, in a race to Edinburgh that was won by Deceuninck-Quick-Step’s Yves Lampaert.

This time around though, the textile town of Hawick plays host to a route that will take the riders eastwards to the North Sea coast, before looping around to a finish outside of the Jim Clark Motorsport Museum in Duns – dedicated to the former Formula One world champion who grew up nearby.

The riders set off from Hawick during stage seven of the Tour of Britain 2021 / Image: SWPix

What is the route?

Starting in Hawick, the riders will pass southwards through the town centre and the historic textiles townhouse before heading north-east towards Jedburgh. The peloton then take on the first sprint stage of the day past the village of Morebattle and then loop around to the cobbled streets of Kelso – the town which hosted stage two back in 2019.

From there, the riders continue north-east to the second sprint stage at Coldstream and come within touching distance of the River Tweed and the English border. Then, it’s a 33km ride to the east coast, before an 11.5km chase to the third and final sprint at Reston.

The last 50km of the race suddenly becomes a lot tricker, so expect the hill specialists to thrive with three category three climbs inside 18km before the finish in Duns.

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