Grandstand tickets on sale for £5 – to watch a sportive

Tickets have gone on sale for grandstand seats in Lincoln on the weekend of the National Road Race Championships in June and they cost just £5. But the tickets aren’t to watch Peter Kennaugh and Laura Trott defend their titles on the Sunday – instead, they’re for the preceding day’s sportive.

Simon Warren, author of the 100 Climbs books, tweeted a link yesterday to the page on Ticketweb where the seats in the stand on Lincoln’s Castle Hill appear to have been on sale since 11 February.

According to the accompanying seating plan, all 120 places on sale to watch the Lincoln Grand Prix Championships Sportive on 27 June are still available.

To be fair to the organisers, Velo Club Lincoln, the grandstand will be in place for the weekend so it probably makes sense to try and recoup as much of the cost as possible by getting bums on seats whenever possible.

But while family and friends of some of the participants in the sportive may appreciate having a decent vantage point to cheer riders on, others may view charging them to do so as a step too far.

Tickets are also on sale through Ticketweb for the Castle Criterium that evening, costing £10, and there are still places available to watch the National Road Race Championships on Sunday 28 June, when the price is £20.

All prices are subject to an additional delivery fee that will be specified at checkout, says Ticketweb.