Tour of Britain Lars Boom. The 2012 Tour of Britain was held from 9 to 16 September. Jonathan Tiernan-Locke originally won the event, the first British rider to do so since its relaunch. In 2014, following investigation for biological passport irregularities, Tiernan-Locke was banned for two years and stripped of his 2012 title. The race was retrospectively awarded to Australia's Nathan Haas, riding for the Garmin-Sharp team. Mark Cavendish, in his last race as World Champion, won three stages including the final stage in an uphill sprint up Guildford's cobbled high street. Tour de France 2012 winner, Bradley Wiggins was forced to pull
Grand Tour (cycling) till 2018 Giro d'Italia. The best average finish was the first time three Grand Tours were finished in one season, when Raphaël Géminiani finished 4th, 6th and 3rd in the Giro, Tour and Vuelta, respectively. Grand Tour (cycling) In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour is one of the three major European professional cycling stage races: Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España. Collectively they are termed the "Grand Tours", and all three races are similar in format being multi-week races with daily stages. They have a special status in the UCI regulations: more points for the UCI