The final stage of the 2019 Tour of Britain took place across all ten boroughs of Greater Manchester, marking the return of the event since its inaugural edition of the modern race in 2004. 

The staging of the event demonstrated the high level of collaboration between the ten local authorities as well as the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), Marketing Manchester, Greater Manchester Police, Transport for Greater Manchester, Greatersport, Greater Manchester Resilience Unit alongside British Cycling and the organisers of the Tour - Sweetspot.  Marketing Manchester led the GM Communications and Marketing subgroup which featured key staff from the above partners who met regularly to plan the necessary campaigns and messaging to ensure a successful and well-attended tour stage within challenging timescales between the announcement of the route and the event itself.

The route began in Altrincham, Trafford in front of 60,000 spectators, moving through Stockport, Tameside, Oldham, Rochdale, Bury, Bolton, Wigan, Salford before finally ending on Deansgate in Manchester City Centre where 35,000 fans saw the dutchman Mathieu van der Poel clinch the stage and the 2019 Tour Championship. 

In total the event attracted 600,000 spectators – 1/3 of the combined attendance for all 8 stages of the event.  Greater Manchester benefitted from £3.8m in economic impact while the event raised awareness of sustainable travel and the new cycling and walking infrastructure across the city region.  In addition, the 103 mile route took in some of Greater Manchester’s highlights, such as the climb at Ramsbottom Rake and the Hazel Grove Sprint Zone, where the local High School staged a flag competition.  Land Art was also featured on the route, with 3 entries into the event’s national competition being shortlisted for the top prize.  The event achieved great exposure for the city region with TV coverage of the event across Eurosport and ITV4, which attracted 438k viewers on ITV4.