Park’s perfect setting for tour stage start

Sep 15 2007 by Liza Williams, Liverpool Daily Post

SEFTON PARK proved the perfect location to begin the fifth leg of the Tour of Britain cycling race yesterday.

The Merseyside stage of the tour saw riders travel through Liverpool, Crosby and Southport before moving further north to Kendal.

A stage was set up in Sefton Park, where the race began at 10am and Mayor of Liverpool Paul Brant led the countdown to the start of the leg.

He was joined on stage by BBC sports commentator and former champion cyclist Hugh Porter.

Isle of Man racer Mark Cavendish, who came second in the stage and currently is second in the competition overall, proved popular with the crowds who had gathered around Sefton Park as he signed autographs for fans.

Lizzy Beech, 18, from Aigburth, came to Sefton Park to see the riders set off.

She said: “I love cycling and the park is such a nice place to start this stage of the race. I am so glad the finale is in the city next year as that is the most exciting part.”

A total of 91 cyclists started the race, out of 102 contenders who qualified at Crystal Palace on Sunday. The race reached Southport at 11.15am, after travelling through Crosby.

Before reaching Liverpool the cyclists had raced through the South East, Somerset and the West Midlands. Last year, the tour had a stage finish in the city and next year the race will finish in Liverpool for the Capital of Culture celebrations.

On Thursday, charity fundraiser Jane Tomlinson’s husband, Mike, and son Steven began the fourth stage of the race, named the Jane Tomlinson stage in her memory. The Crosby-born mother-of-three lost her fight with breast cancer on September 4 after raising £1.7m for cancer charities in her life time.

Paul Rowlands, spokesman for the tour, said: “What a beautiful place to start the race, we would like to thank the people of Liverpool who gathered in Sefton Park.

“We would like to thank the mayor for his help, everything ran very smoothly and we were given a very warm reception from the crowd. It is a very good sign for 2008, when the race finale is in Liverpool. Today was a little taste of things to come.”

The winner of the stage was Russian rider Alexander Serov.

VISIT www.liverpooldaily post.co.uk to see a variety of images from the event.

CYCLING: PAGE 26

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