Yodel unveils Tour of Britain’s 10th anniversary YodelDirect Sprints Jersey
Yodel, the UK’s leading parcel delivery company and official sprints sponsor and logistics partner of The Tour of Britain, has today unveiled The Tour’s 10th anniversary sprints jersey.
The company has renamed the coveted sprints jersey the 'YodelDirect Sprints', to celebrate the launch of YodelDirect, its first consumer to consumer parcel service. The door-to-door service, which includes collection from the sender's address, is perfect for online marketplace sellers, small businesses and consumers.
Yodel, which delivers over 150 million parcels per year across the UK, and until now has only been available to large companies, has enlisted the help of last year's sprints champion, Peter Williams, to reveal the jersey. A video shows the Team IG Sigma Sport cyclist taking receipt of a parcel sent via YodelDirect, unwrapping it and modelling the new design before getting on his bicycle and trying it out - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5zci8bJXWk&feature=youtu.be
The Tour, Britain's equivalent of the Tour de France, starts on Sunday (15 September) and will be visiting cities, towns and villages around the UK, starting in Peebles and going down to Devon, before finishing in London on Sunday 22 September.
Each road stage of The Tour features three intermediate YodelDirect sprint sections, where points are awarded towards the YodelDirect jersey. Often considered one of the most exciting parts of the race, riders break away and battle it out to be the first across the sprint line, to claim the points and also bonus seconds to be taken off their overall race time.
If the overall lead for The Tour of Britain is tight, battle for the time bonuses will be intense, as in 2007 when an intermediate sprint helped decide the overall winner of The Tour.
114 professional athletes from across the world are due to take part, including Sir Bradley Wiggins, Mark Cavendish and Peter Williams, and the event is expected to attract over a million roadside spectators and over 300 million TV viewers worldwide.
Dick Stead, Executive Chairman of Yodel, said: "We are delighted to continue our association with The Tour of Britain for a fourth year, sponsoring the sprints jersey and providing the logistics for the event.
"Our service covers every postcode, and just like our vans, The Tour crosses the country, connecting people. While only one person can take the podium at the end of the day, they have a whole team behind them, each with different strengths, and that's also true of Yodel.
"The sprint sections in particular are about speed and teamwork and so are we."
Peter Williams, who will be taking part in this year's event, added; ""I was delighted to win the Yodel sprints jersey in 2013. This year I will be riding the Tour of Britain again with IG Sigma Sport. It's a tough route but I would very much like to be in contention for the jersey once again".
You can catch the action live and daily highlights every evening on ITV4 and British Eurosport.
To find out more about YodelDirect visit www.yodeldirect.com . To find out more about The Tour of Britain visit www.thetour.co.uk
The YodelDirect sprints will be at:
Stage 1 - Sunday 15 - Scotland
- Hawick, High Street
- Newcastleton, village green
- Drumlanrig Castle, finish line
Stage 2 - Monday 16 - Cumbria
- Aspatria - A596
- Dearham - A594, Maryport Road
- Whitehaven - Cleator Moor Road
Stage 3 - Tuesday 17 - Knowsley
Time trial route
Stage 4 - Wednesday 18 - Stoke-on-Trent
- Marchwiel - A525
- Ruthin - A494
- Denbigh - A543
Stage 5 - Thursday 19 - Wales
- Newbridge on Wye - A470
- Libanus - A470
- Ystrad Mynach - Caerphilly Road
Stage 6 - Friday 20 - Devon
- Tiverton - outside Blundells School
- Exeter - High Street
- Chudleigh - Fore Street
Stage 7 - Saturday 21 - Surrey
- Dorking - South Street
- Cranleigh - Ewhurst Road
- Woking - A320 Chertsey Road
Stage 8 - Sunday 22 - London
1, 2 and 3. On the finish line on Whitehall on Laps 2, 6 and 8