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Starting in May and continuing throughout the season, Sky Sports will show the National Series road racing series promoted by British Cycling, in a regular slot on Sky Sports each Tuesday evening.
Jonny Clay, Cycle Sport and Membership Director at British Cycling said:
“It’s great to be working with Sky Sports on the broadcast of our national series racing for the first time. For fans of the sport, knowing that they’ll be able to see cycling throughout the summer on a Tuesday night is a real positive. We’ll be working to build the audience over the course of this year and show that British bike racing can stand on its own two feet as sporting entertainment.”
Rik Dovey, Managing Director of Acquisitions for Sky Sports, said:
“We’re pleased to be showing regular coverage of the National Series on Sky Sports throughout the season. Our commitment to cover domestic cycling compliments our wider partnership with British Cycling in the UK and our aim to encourage more people to get back on their bikes."
The events to be shown are the Premier Calendar series, the Elite Circuit Series and the National Circuit Race Championships.
The Premier Calendar series is a season long competition – which started in March – and is made up of seven rounds with the victory decided on points awarded for each rider’s finishing position in each race of the series. Last Year, Olympic medallist Chris Newton of team Rapha Condor Sharp was crowned champion.
Coverage of the Premier Calendar starts with the Lincoln Grand Prix next Tuesday 17 May on Sky Sports 2 at 9.30pm. The Elite Circuit Series of crits begins in Otley on 22 June and concludes in Preston on 7 August.
The overall winner of the series is the rider with the most points at the end of the final round, last year that rider was Ian Wilkinson of the Endura team.
Whilst the Elite Circuit series rewards consistency across the season, the National Circuit Race Championships is all about performing on one day and the winner of this race gets the honour of wearing the National Champion’s red white and blue stripes on his jersey for the next 12 months. This year’s race returns to Beverley in Yorkshire where last year’s National Champion was current Olympic Champion, Ed Clancy who rode that year for the Motorpoint team.
