British Cycling wants an im-proved Tour of Britain to be the “hub” around which road racing’s profile and popularity in the country continues to grow over the next few years.

The national governing body announced in December that the contract to run the Tour from 2014 onwards was being put out to open tender, and this week it confirmed SweetSpot Group –organiser of the event since it returned to the cycling calendar in 2004 - had secured a deal to deliver it for another five years, up to and including the 2018 edition.

Within the agreement is the objective of attaining HC status for the race, which would move it up a UCI category from 2.1 – something it is hoped that, along with various other changes, will help encourage the world’s best teams and riders to take part.

The body’s cycle sport and membership director Jonny Clay told Press Association Sport: “We have been probably punching above our weight at something like track cycling for some time, and the other disciplines are where they need to be I think, but road racing is not quite there.

“The Tour of Britain has been doing a reasonably good job for some years, but it can improve from that point.

“And I’d like to think that as an organisation, it is an expectation of ours now that major international events work harder than just being major international events.

“The Tour of Britain has to work a bit harder in terms of its association with British Cycling’s wider programmes and initiatives.”