Lincoln Launches Tour Of Britain 2026 Route, Earlston Finishes It
Tour of Britain 2026 will start in Lincoln and finish in Earlston, the Scottish Borders, over five days from 2 to 6 September. The men’s race will open with a stage that begins and ends in Lincoln, giving the city its first modern Tour of Britain Men start.
British Cycling said the route takes in Lincolnshire, East Yorkshire, North Yorkshire and the Scottish Borders across the week. That gives the 22nd edition a tighter, five-day format and puts first-time host Lincoln alongside returning stops such as Hull, Beverley and the Scottish Borders.
Lincoln Opens the Race
Stage one starts and finishes in Lincoln on 2 September. Jonathan Day said: “Taking the Tour to Lincoln for the first time, a city synonymous with its love for cycling, will be special for the opening stage of the men’s race, before the route winds its way up the east coast via North Yorkshire, before reaching the Scottish Borders in Earlston.”
Lincoln has hosted the Milk Race and the British National Road Championships before, but the modern men’s Tour of Britain has not visited the city. That makes the opening day the clearest marker of what changed in this route announcement: a race with familiar territory is adding a city that has not previously been on the men’s modern route.
Boston to Skegness
Stage two crosses Lincolnshire from Boston to Skegness, while stage three runs from Hull to Beverley across East Yorkshire. British Cycling had already said the route would head to Lincolnshire, East Yorkshire and the Scottish Borders across the week, and the latest details fill in the stage-by-stage map.
Day said: “We are bringing new hosts and stages in Lincoln, Boston and Skegness, and Leyburn, and it is fantastic to return to previous hosts of the race in Hull and Beverley, Helmsley, and the Scottish Borders.”
North York Moors to Earlston
The penultimate day on Saturday 5 September goes over the North York Moors and the Yorkshire Dales before the race finishes in Earlston on 6 September, south of Edinburgh. The men’s event will follow five days of the Lloyds Tour of Britain Women in late August, placing the two races back to back in the calendar.
Day also thanked the race’s partners across the five stages, saying they are helping deliver “another memorable and action packed five days of world class racing” to the communities on the route. For local host towns, the announcement now turns the focus from where the race will go to when road closures, crowd plans and race-day logistics will land: 2 September in Lincoln and 6 September in Earlston.
