August 28 2018

Yodel was once again the official logistics provider for The Ovo Energy Tour of Britain

Last week, 20 professional race teams, 2018 Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas and Giro d’Italia winner Chris Froome, took part and relied on Yodel to keep The Tour of Britain moving at every stage.

The 2018 OVO Energy Tour of Britain, took place from September 2^nd to September 9^th over a 1,140-kilometre route, and lead the world’s top riders from Pembrey Country Park on the Carmarthenshire coast in South Wales to the streets of Central London, via Devon, Bristol, Warwickshire, Cumbria and Nottinghamshire across eight stages of racing.

With responsibility for the logistics of the largest cycling race in the UK, our team is proud to keep the tour moving – transporting hundreds of tonnes of vital equipment across the length and breadth of Britain.

Our hardworking team clocked up around 1,500 miles this year - ferrying essential equipment from Surrey to Wales and back again via Cumbria and Nottingham.

This is the ninth year we have supported the prestigious tour, which attracts the world’s top cyclists – this year saw 2018 Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas and Giro d’Italia winner Chris Froome take to the road and included 11 WorldTour teams.

Our 2018 Tour team was responsible for transporting thousands of pieces of equipment from glasses, water and food, to hospitality boards and gazebos.

In all, 15,000 items were transported safely and securely across the stages of the competition - our brilliant team were even responsible for making sure the Tour of Britain start and finish gantries were transported safely across the UK.

This year, 29 Yodel vans serviced the Tour across the eight stages of the race. Our drivers were responsible for covering six different start locations and seven different finish locations, plus a total of 36 sprint and KOM locations.

Mick Bennett, Race Director at SweetSpot Group** , organisers of Tour of Britain, said:** “We’re delighted to be working with Yodel. They have been our long-standing logistics partner and without their support and expertise we simply wouldn’t be able to run our premier sporting events. The role they play in moving hundreds of tonnes of equipment around the country is vital.

“Yodel has been supplying logistics for our races, including the Tour of Britain, the Women’s Tour, Tour Series and Tour Ride, since 2010. For a single event, such as Tour of Britain, they will transport over 12,000 items, including hospitality and safety equipment, the all-important finishing line gantry and winners’ podium, as well as the teams’ apparatus.

“Our events attract the world’s elite cycling teams, including the likes of Mark Cavendish and Geraint Thomas, and are televised around the world each day. We need a reliable logistics partner to make it happen, and we have that in Yodel.”

We’ve been inspired by our partnership with the Tour to explore broadening our service provision and increasing the number of areas where we use cyclists to enable faster delivery by cutting through congestion - helping to boost the business’ green credentials and improving delivery to recipients based in pedestrianised zones.

We currently work with multiple bicycle couriers delivering between 80 to 100,000 parcels per year.  Through our partnerships with Pedal & Post in Oxford, BoxBike in Stevenage and Pedicabs in Hereford, we are able to continue to offer the same great Yodel service in congested or pedestrianised areas. This drive to be green includes looking at how we can make next year’s Tour kinder to the environment by using electric vans to provide transport support in future races.

We can’t wait to hit the road and see some of the world’s best cycling unfold against the backdrop of some of the UK’s fantastic cities and breath-taking countryside next year.

If you would like to experience a champion delivery service first-hand, get in touch with our world-class team here