Friends Life Becomes Tour of Britain’s First Title Sponsor

Life assurance company Friends Life has become the first title sponsor of the Tour of Britain, race organisers announced on Tuesday.

The deal follows Friends Life’s sponsorship of the inaugural Women’s Tour in May and has followed up its support of cycling by sponsoring the Tour of Britain, which takes place between September 7-14.

Friends Life group chief executive, Andy Briggs, said: “Cycling is now hugely popular in Britain and we want to encourage and support its growing popularity by sponsoring the Tour of Britain.

“The success of the inaugural Friends Life Women’s Tour has fuelled our enthusiasm for elite road racing and the inspiration it brings to a wider cycling audience.”

Hugh Roberts, chief executive of race organisers SweetSpot, added: “Friends Life are the perfect ‘fit’ and their plans for activating their involvement will no doubt prove to be groundbreaking, not just for the events themselves, but more importantly in our eyes, for the greater good of the sport.

“Securing the support of such an established blue chip organisation will raise the profile of the Tours further and take both the Women’s Tour and Tour of Britain to another level.

“This partnership is an affirmation of our work on both races.”