“I can’t stand it because they don’t understand the bigger picture" - Tour of Britain director defends race route amidst criticism

It's fair to say that this year's Tour of Britain hasn't been the most exciting edition of the race's history. Race director Mick Bennett however, has hit back amidst some heavy criticism of the route.

“It’s hard to hear,” Bennett said in conversation with Cycling Weekly. “I can’t stand it because they don’t understand the bigger picture that we have had to deal with. “Because the country is in such a difficult financial situation, we're in such a state now that local authorities are being bled of the funds from central and local government."

Five flattish stages to start the race were all won by Jumbo-Visma, causing some critics to label the race 'boring'. “They don't have the funds to commit to closing the roads and lots of lots of these stages, Suffolk for example, put an amazing amount of resources in and you'd think you're on totally closed roads, but they're still rolling," defends Bennett. “Because the country is in a situation where, you know, local authorities are prioritising spending elsewhere, they're going to say, well, that's our priority and we fully understand that.”

A smaller race was also another point of concern with just 96 riders in the peloton at the start of the race. This problem at least, has a simple answer believes Bennett. “It's purely and simply Brexit,” he said. “Just to give you an example, it took some teams five hours that rode the World Champs to get their vehicles, technical teams through customs at Dover, and that was only three weeks ago. And they go, 'Hang on. You know what? It's not worth it'. So they didn't, but that's purely and simply down to Brexit.”