Details for the inaugural women's Tour of Scotland have been announced with a demanding three-day race centred around Scotland's major cities.
Taking place from Friday 9th to Sunday 11th August, the peloton will tackle 350km of rolling roads with stage finishes in Perth, Dunfermline and Edinburgh as organisers look to create an 'outstanding world-class permanent UCI calendar professional race fixture' set to be contested by 'many of the top women's teams in the world'.
Olympic and World Champion Katie Archibald, who grew up in the city of Glasgow, will be on the start line come August and is particularly proud of how organisers have worked towards an event specifically for woman.
'There's a huge significance that it's a standalone women's event, I'm proud to be attached to it and hopefully events like this say to young girls that they can get on a bike, and to women that "this world is ours, we're competitive and we can race just as hard as the men",' said Archibald.
'It should really give a chance to showcase Scotland and some gorgeous scenery. Most years I end up missing the Scotland National Road Race so it will be a privilege to be on these roads,' she added.
The route will be a tale of town and country as all three stages take in a mixture of Scotland's scenic countryside and its iconic cities.
Stage 1 will be a 103km dash from the port city of Dundee south to Dunfermline, firstly across the Tay Road Bridge and then via the Lomond Hills regional park with two classified climbs on the course.
Stage 2 will begin in Glasgow's George Square before a rolling day of 139.4km north towards the Loch Lomond country park. Eventually, the peloton will head east before a flat and fast finish in Perth.
The final day will begin and end in Scotland's capital, Edinburgh. Beginning in Holyrood Park, the race will take a long loop out toward the Mid Lothian borders before returning back to the city.
The race will then re-enter Holyrood Park before taking three laps of a finishing circuit that includes a classified climb on each pass.
It is expected that 18-20 teams will participate in the race while the UCI has awarded the event a 2.1 status. There will also be a sportive run concurrently to the race.
Beyond offering a competitive stage race for women, organisers are also targeting bigger goals such as offering a like-for-like prize pot for the race winner as would be expected at a similar men's race and working towards being the world's first climate positive sports event by 2020.
It will also help Scotland prepare ahead of the 2023 World Championships as the nation prepares to host the first ever multi-discipline Worlds which will bring together track, road, mountain bike and bmx events under a two-week window rather than being spread out across the entire season.
Both this and the women's Tour of Scotland should act as a catalyst to propelling more Scots into cycling according to Scotland's minister for public health, sport and wellbeing, Joe Fitzpatrick.
'With the Cycling World Championships coming to Scotland in 2023, this event adds to our drive to become one of Europe’s top cycling nations with cycling firmly embedded across Scotland as the favoured way to travel to school and work, as an enjoyable leisure activity and efficient way to improve health.'
Women's Tour of Scotland stage routes
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