Zoe Backstedt (Canyon//SRAM) is set to race the 2026 Lloyds Tour of Britain Women, while Lauren Dickson (FDJ United-Suez) is provisionally scheduled to return from injury at the five-stage race.
The UCI Women’s WorldTour event will begin in Cockermouth on Wednesday 19 August and finish in Royal Leamington Spa on Sunday 23 August. It is the first women’s edition to feature five stages, matching the men’s Tour of Britain.
“After an extremely successful Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift last week with the team, I’m super excited to be heading to the start line of the Tour of Britain Women,” Backstedt said in a British Cycling press release. “It’s going to be a challenging course, but I’m looking forward to some stages finishing in Wales!”
Backstedt, who this season has won the national road and time trial titles and a Tour de Suisse stage, as well as retaining her Baloise Ladies Tour title in Belgium, is due to make her second appearance. Her sister Elynor Backstedt (UAE Team L’IMAD) is among the riders provisionally selected.
Dickson crashed at the Tour de Suisse and is now scheduled to return for her second Tour of Britain Women. Her 2026 results include 11th overall on her Grand Tour debut at the Giro d’Italia Women, where she was a key domestique for eventual winner Demi Vollering.
“The Women’s Tour of Britain is where I got my first taste of WorldTour racing,” Dickson said. “Our roads are grippy and the course is undulating, making for tough and attritional racing with potential for different scenarios.”
The former Handsling-Alba Development rider identified the stage three finish on the Great Orme above Llandudno as a potential general classification test. “Personally, I’m particularly excited for stage three’s uphill finish – it’s a punchy, potentially GC day,” she said. “We’re bringing a strong team with multiple options and I’m excited to race in front of home crowds.”
Tour riders and Commonwealth medallists named
Recent Tour de France Femmes riders Alice Towers (EF Education-Oatly), Pfeiffer Georgi (Team Picnic PostNL) and Millie Couzens (Fenix-Premier Tech) also feature in British Cycling’s provisional selection.
Couzens is set to race alongside Fenix-Premier Tech teammate Flora Perkins, who placed inside the top 15 on her event debut in 2024. Georgi has previously finished inside the top five, while Couzens has recorded a top-10 result.
Commonwealth Games medallists Anna Morris and Jess Roberts are provisionally selected following their recent success on the track in Glasgow. Both Welsh riders won bronze in the team pursuit, while Morris added two gold medals and Roberts took silver in the points race.
Morris and Roberts are set to represent the Great Britain Cycling Team alongside Towers, Amalie Cooper (Tirol Women Cycling), Rebecca Gardiner (KDM-Pack Cycling Team VZW) and Ruby Oakes (FTP-Fulfil The Potential). Oakes has been competing in the Lloyds National Road Series and finished fourth at the Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix earlier this year.
The five-stage 636km route opens with a 159km stage that starts and finishes in Cockermouth. After months of hot, dry weather in the UK the heat is set to break with rain currently forecast. Stage two travels from Clitheroe to Blackpool before the race enters Wales for the Great Orme finish, where the main GC splits are expected to form, and a fourth stage from Llanidloes to Hay-on-Wye.
The final day covers 123.8km around Royal Leamington Spa, with 1,386 metres of elevation and late climbs at Sun Rising Hill and Burton Dassett Hills Country Park, which has featured in the men’s race before.
Potential post-Tour issue
The race takes place shortly after the Tour de France Femmes. That proximity may influence the eventual start list, which remains subject to change before racing begins. As of yet the provisional startlist on various sites still suggests a very strong line-up including defending champion Ally Wollaston (FDJ United-SUEZ).
Also, other stand-out names are SD Worx-Protime duo Lorena Wiebes and Lotte Kopecky, Lara Gillespie (UAE Team L’IMAD), former mountain biker Kate Courtney (FDJ United-SUEZ), Liane Lippert (Movistar), Chiara Consonni (Canyon\SRAM), Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal) and many more.
One name that may surprise a few on the list is Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon\SRAM). This is a provisional startlist, after all, but it is very unlikely that she will be racing so soon after finishing runner-up in the Tour after a brutal GC battle over the nine days. That goes for a lot of the stars mentioned. The close proximity to the Tour does mean that some of these big names may take a bit of time off after the Tour rather than heading to a possibly cool and wet Britain.
The new calendar position does bring some good as well as it is just two weeks before the men’s race that has been brough forward and shortened to the first week of September while both lie in the last part of the school summer holidays, making it a perfect even to attract good crowds to watch the racing.
Cover image credit: SWpix.com
Velora newsletter
Never miss a story
The biggest cycling stories, tech insight and race analysis — twice a week, free.
