It’s been eight months since the publication of the Elite Road Racing Task Force’s recommendations.

Chaired by Olympic champion Ed Clancy, the Task Force made 49 specific recommendations which were summarised as 16 broad recommendations which were published in January to revitalise the domestic road scene. Today we wanted to share an update on our progress to date and some details on our next priorities, as we begin to look ahead to the 2025 calendar.

Preparing to deliver

Following the publication of the recommendations, we brought together a group including Marc Etches from the Road Commission, Scott Taylor from the British Cycling Board and members of our internal team, to prioritise the recommendations and build a plan for implementation.

We are pleased to have made quick progress in several areas, most notably safeguarding the future of the Lloyds Bank Tour of Britain events for women and men. The timing of the Task Force’s recommendations – just before the start of the 2024 calendar – means that we have had to balance this priority with delivery of the 2024 calendar.

We also acknowledge the disappointment felt by the community following the cancellation of the Tour of the Reservoir, Newark Town Centre Races and another proposed stage race in September. This has once again highlighted the difficult environment we face alongside our event organisers.

The economic reality, increasing complexity and cost of delivering races on the highway are all difficulties that we embrace. Not to mention the financial pressure and risks placed on volunteers who choose to organise events and the dwindling number of licence holders and event organisers, all with a greater need to drive commercial revenue. We must accept these challenges whilst being mindful that solutions must be sustainable and not a sticking plaster.

Our progress to date

We have: 

• Secured the support of Lloyds Bank as the title sponsor of the National Road Championships, National Road Series and National Circuit Series, bringing vital investment into the sport (Recommendation 2 and 6).
• Successfully delivered the Lloyds Bank Tour of Britain Women and the Lloyds Bank Tour of Britain Men (Recommendation 13).
• Commenced the development of new training opportunities and resources to support new and existing event organisers. All regions will also deliver ‘best practice’ workshops ahead of the start of the new season (Recommendation 4 and 5).
• Updated our tender process for existing and prospective local authority partners, to widen the number of potential host locations for National Road Series and National Circuit Series events (Recommendation 9 and 10).
• Brought together our Sport, Commercial, Marketing and Communications teams into a single ‘customer centric’ unit within British Cycling, to ensure a coordinated and effective approach to support event organisers (Recommendation 2).
• Brought parity to the race lengths for all open and women’s events in the Lloyds Bank National Circuit Series. (Recommendation 9).
• Started a review of the National Circuit Series to deliver on the ambition of improving audience and community engagement, and become more appealing to commercial partners, in 2025 and beyond. (Recommendation 9).
• Successfully supported the delivery of a seven-round National Circuit Series, including the first Beverley Grand Prix since 2017. (Recommendation 10).

Next steps

As we look ahead to the 2025 calendar, our team’s priorities for the coming six months have been broadly split into three key areas. These are:

• Working with our partner Lloyds Bank to develop a full branding, communications and marketing strategy for the 2025 National Road Series and National Circuit Series, ensuring greater brand consistency and profile for the events both regionally and nationally.
• Continuing to further develop and strengthen support and training resources for new and existing event organisers, including the development of a ‘Winning Pattern’ playbook based on existing successful features for replication in other towns and cities.  
• Continuing to work closely with our local authority partners to facilitate National A race delivery and the hosting of major events in 2025 and beyond.

We will continue to report on our progress regularly, but know we can only achieve our goals with the support of the whole community. A huge thank you to everyone – staff, volunteers and riders – who have supported us so far.

Want to get involved in growing the sport we love? Find out about opportunities as a race volunteer here, more information about the work of your Regional Board here, and how to contact our discipline commissions here.