Women’s Tour under threat as British cycling promoter goes into liquidation

The former organiser of the Tour of Britain has gone into liquidation in the latest blow to the struggling British cycling scene with claims against the company understood be around £1m.

SweetSpot, who promoted the Tour of Britain on behalf of British Cycling, and which owns and runs the Women’s Tour as well as the Tour Series of city centre races, has appointed KRE corporate recovery to deal with its creditors after entering voluntary liquidation.

The announcement comes less than six months after SweetSpot assisted with the running of the UCI Super World Championships in Glasgow and two months after British Cycling rescinded its naming rights to the Tour of Britain following a dispute over unpaid rights fees, which the governing body claimed amounted to £750,000.

While SweetSpot vehemently disputed this figure, and told the Guardian that legal teams were handling the dispute with a view to resolving it amicably, the company was also recently reported to be facing potential legal action from the Isle of Wight council following the cancellation of the final stages of the 2022 Tour of Britain due to the death of the Queen.

British Cycling insisted in November, as the rift with SweetSpot deepened, that it remained “fully committed to the delivery of the Tour of Britain in 2024” but the future of the Women’s Tour has now been thrown into doubt given SweetSpot owned the rights to the event.

Already postponed due to funding issues in 2023, the Women’s Tour had quickly established itself as one of the key races in the World Tour, particularly as a warm-up to summer stage races, such as the Tour de France Femmes. Past winners included former world champions, Lizzie Deignan and Marianne Vos, and 2023 Tour de France Femmes champion, Demi Vollering.