More hints at the route of September's highly-anticipated Isle of Wight stage of the Tour of Britain have been revealed.
The Isle of Wight will host the final stage of the cycling event on September 11, and recently announced it will start in Ryde.
Other details of the final route have yet to be announced for an event that will be televised across the world.
“All eyes of the world will be on the Island,” said Cllr Julie Jones-Evans.
Speaking at a Newport and Carisbrooke Community Council meeting last night (Monday), member Cllr Jones-Evans, also the Isle of Wight Council’s cabinet member for regeneration, business development and tourism, said the route will come through the centre of Newport.
Originally, she said, the event was only going to visit the Island’s county town by using the dual carriageway, which she thought was not good enough.
However, she said she had got organisers to change their mind.
The route, Cllr Jones-Evans says, will see the cyclists start in Ryde, then go through Sandown and Newport before finishing at the top of Tennyson Down.
While members of the community council were excited about the race, further questions about the route specifics were raised, including the potential to go up to Carisbrooke Castle.
Cllr Geoff Brodie, chair of the community council and a keen watcher of cycle races, said the worst thing in a professional cycling race was a flat stage as the athletes would go past quickly.
Cllr Brodie said the more hills the organisers could build into the route the better and questioned whether the race was going to pass through the town only once, as the stages were usually around 100 miles long.
Cllr Jones-Evans said she had no more details but the final route was expected to be announced in early March.
Cllr Jones-Evans suggested a sustainable event could be held on the day for the community as other hosts had done.
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