WREXHAM is set to host a leg of this summer’s Tour of Britain Women after what has been described as “monumental effort” to make sure the race goes ahead.

Ten weeks after the governing body announced it would organise the race in-house following the collapse of the SweetSpot group, the outline of the route has been unveiled, with an opening stage starting in Welshpool and finishing in Llandudno on June 6.

Stage two will start and finish in Wrexham on June 7, stage three will begin and end in Warrington, and the final stage will start outside the National Cycling Centre in Manchester and finish in Leigh on June 9.

The race will be limited to four stages this year – down from six for the final edition of the Women’s Tour in 2022 – due to the time restrictions British Cycling has faced, but there is an ambition to grow in the future.

Rod Ellingworth, the former deputy team principal of the Ineos Grenadiers who joined as race director last month, said: “It’s been a monumental effort by the whole team over the past 10 weeks to confirm the stages for this year’s Tour of Britain Women.”

The governing body’s chief executive Jon Dutton admitted there had been “many” moments in the last 10 weeks where he feared the race might not take place.

“I dare say with 52 days to go there will be a few more bumps in the road,” Dutton said.

“We’ve had local authorities, start towns and finish towns who’ve said, ‘We’re in’ and then subsequently said, ‘We’re not in’ and that’s difficult. We’ve always had the idea of a condensed, compact race and when one pulls out that’s an issue across the board.”

Councillor Nigel Williams, Lead member for Economy and Regeneration, Wrexham, said:  “Once again the sporting spotlight will be on Wrexham as we continue to be a welcoming location for national events.

“After the success of last year’s Tour of Britain we have another opportunity to showcase the best of our area and this will bring huge benefits to the local economy.

“I know many enthusiasts will be looking forward to the event and to seeing the elite of British cycling as they race through the area. It will give many within the city centre and surrounding areas the opportunity to give the cyclists a warm Welsh welcome to Wrexham as they pass through.”

All six of the UK’s UCI Continental level teams have signed up for the women’s race, and former world champion Lizzie Deignan will swap her Lidl-Trek jersey for Great Britain colours to lead a national squad.

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“Sometimes it’s easy to underestimate how much it takes to put on a race so I’m really grateful to the people who have pulled it off against the odds,” Deignan said.

The 35-year-old wants to use the race to prepare for a busy summer which will hopefully include the Paris Olympics, but admitted the broken arm she suffered in a crash at last month’s Tour of Flanders had come at a bad time.

“The main concern for me is it’s during Olympic selection time so I’ve missed a good chunk of races I was peaking for in terms of getting selected,” said Deignan.

“There’s plenty of time until the Olympics itself to get fit and ready, but selection is harder than it’s ever been so it’s obviously bad timing.”