Neil Fachie hopes the Tour of Britain can have an inspirational impact in the north-east.
Last year the eight-stage race finished on Aberdeen’s Esplanade while this year’s event begins on Union Street tomorrow.
Two-time Paralympic track cycling champion Fachie believes it’s great the north-east has been chosen to host Britain’s most prestigious road race.
The 38-year-old Aberdonian said: “It’s a massive event, to start in Aberdeen city centre is great and the route looks great as well.
“Finishing in Glenshee is a proper stage and way out of my league as a cyclist.
“I’m sure it’ll look great on TV and I hope the fans turn out, some of the sprints are coming through towns like Inverurie, Alford and Ballater.
“I’m sure there will be good crowds and hopefully it encourages more people to get involved in cycling.
“We’ve had a few big events in the north-east recently but this is huge.
“There are some big names and taking part and one of the great things is that it’s free for the public.
“You can go out on the roads and be part of the carnival atmosphere and if you get to see some of the climbs and the sprints as well it’s pretty exciting.”
Good to be home
Fachie has been in the north-east with his wife Lora, also a Paralympic champion, this week.
On Thursday evening the couple took part in a Bike Blethers evening at Inverurie Town Hall. The event, delivered in partnership with the Archie Foundation, saw them share their sporting success stories.
Fachie added: “Firstly it’s nice to be able to see family, and it’s good to be up for a really big event, the Tour of Britain.
“The event in Inverurie was also for a good cause in the Archie Foundation.
“They asked us to take part so we had the event in Inverurie and we’ve also visited schools. It’s nice to be able to do that.”
Commonwealth success
Earlier this summer Fachie claimed his fifth Commonwealth Gold medal by winning the Tandem B 1KM time-trial alongside pilot Lewis Stewart.
The pair also won silver in the Tandemm B sprint.
Fachie said: “The gold medal was one of my greatest victories, it’s been a challenging year.
“There was a while I wasn’t sure who my pilot would be and there was a while I thought the games might be a write-off.
“We were favourites coming in but I wasn’t helped by picking up an illness the week before.
“Fortunately it wasn’t Covid so I was allowed to race but I still felt terrible on race day.
“The good thing about the kilo is it’s one big effort so even though I knew it was going to hurt I gave it everything.
“Those wins by a small margin mean the most because they’re hard to come by.
“After that, I wasn’t able to recover for the sprint. I tried but I didn’t have the legs to win gold and Wales were better than us on the day.”
Baby and World Championship on the way
It’s also going to be a busy end to the year for Fachie.
He is set to compete at the Para-cycling Track World Championship in Paris next month with Lora also due to give birth to their first child.
Fachie said: “Lora is due to give birth to our first child about a week after the World Championship.
“So we’re praying baby stays in until then and after that, I can take a few weeks off.
“Becoming a dad will be the biggest challenge of this year, it will be a whole new experience.
“It could be a tense competition in Paris, I’ll have my phone on me all the time.
“I’ll be speaking to British Cycling about plans so that if Lora does go into labour I’m out there.”
