A national cycling event is set to return to the Staffordshire Moorlands this autumn.
Hundreds of spectators are expected to line the streets of Leek when the Tour of Britain returns to the town for the fifth successive year.
Race organisers have announced that the competition will return to North Staffordshire in September with a warning that the ride is “not for the faint-hearted”.
Team Sky cyclists Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish will be among the world’s best speeding through the district in stage five of the event.
The 91-mile slog from Trentham Gardens through the Staffordshire Moorlands, up Gun Hill and into Hanley will be one of the most gruelling sections of the 839-mile Tour.
The stage will feature 2,000 metres of climbing across the Staffordshire Moorlands, with 373 metres up Gun Hill, near the Roches, alone.
Around 100 cyclists will work their way through the gears as they also pass through Stone, Stafford, Rugeley, Uttoxeter, Alton, Warslow, Biddulph Moor and Endon.
The race, on Thursday, September 13, will climax with an uphill sprint into the city centre, crossing the line by Hanley Town Hall.
The year’s Tour will start on Sunday, September 9, with a stage from Ipswich to the Norfolk Showground in Nowich, the first time the competition has been held in East Anglia.
The eighth and final stage will take place from Reigate to Guildford on Sunday, September 16.
