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Pearl Izumi has been appointed the official technical clothing partner of the Tour of Britain, Women’s Tour and Tour Series for 2021.
This partnership with organiser SweetSpot will see the brand make the leaders’ jerseys for the races. COVID-19 prevention, including face masks, will also be provided.
“We are excited to welcome Pearl Izumi back into our partner family,” said Hugh Roberts, SweetSpot chief executive. “It was a driving force in our Tour Series events and we know it will bring innovation in design and fabrics to our much-coveted race jerseys. We’re looking forward to welcoming racing back to the roads of Britain.”
Kellie Parsons, marketing director at Madison, added: “It is great to once again be partnering up Pearl Izumi with the Tour Series, as well as adding the Tour of Britain and Women’s Tour. Pearl Izumi cycling apparel really is market-leading, so it makes perfect sense for us to get the brand in front of racing fans with a high level of technical knowledge. After such a turbulent time, we cannot wait to get stuck back into some bike racing.”
This year’s Tour of Britain, from 5th-12th September, will take over 100 of the world’s best riders from Cornwall to Aberdeen. Both Wales and Scotland will host two stages of the event, while seven of the 12 start and finish venues announced to date – Penzance, Bodmin, Sherford, Warrington, Hawick, Stonehaven and Aberdeen – are new to the event.
Rescheduled for October owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the seventh edition of the Women’s Tour will feature the race’s first-ever individual time trial, to be held in Atherstone, Warwickshire. The race, which forms a part of the UCI Women’s WorldTour, will also visit Oxfordshire and Walsall before concluding in Felixstowe, Suffolk after two stages in the East of England.
Alongside British Cycling, both of this year’s races will also honour and celebrate the often unnoticed and underappreciated work of key workers and community champions since March 2020 at each stage start and finish venue through the Ride for Heroes.
SweetSpot is calling on the wider cycling community to nominate these unsung heroes via the event websites at tourofbritain.co.uk/ride-for-heroes and womenstour.co.uk/ride-for-heroes.
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