To gain a sense of perspective, the clock should be stopped for a second. It was just under 10 years ago that the men's Tour of Britain endured a hesitant debut edition, albeit one that led onwards and upwards to far better things; when the inaugural FriendsLife Women's Tour rolls out of Oundle morning for 58 miles through Northamptonshire, it will enter a radically different world, in two-wheeled terms, compared to the environment that greeted its elder sibling in August 2004.
Success is all but taken for granted where anything British on two wheels is concerned. In the era of Sir Bradley Wiggins, Laura Trott, Chris Froome and Lizzie Armitstead, and constant expansion in just about every area of cycling in the UK that's not unreasonable, it has still taken an almighty effort and an immense degree of belief from the organiser, Sweetspot, to inaugurate an event which is far more radical for this country than the men's Tour was.
Men's stage races go back to the 1940s in the UK, but a women's event of this scale and ambition is uncharted territory on this side of the Channel, and there was a building sense of excitement among those heading for the East Midlands early this week. This is, after all, the event that Armitstead – the big home favourite – said that she would willingly devote half a season to winning, before it had even been confirmed on the calendar.
"The athletes are overwhelmed with the attention they are getting, and are just realising how big it is going to be" was the view of Rochelle Gilmore, the manager of the UK's top team, Wiggle-Honda. "It's the only UCI event in the UK, so it's special and big. We've definitely felt the pressure since the race was announced, but it's only become a reality how big a deal it is now that we've got so close to it."
Gilmore was echoed by Trott, who has the privilege of a stage on Saturday that starts in Cheshunt, where she grew up, and ends in Welwyn Garden City, where her cycling career began. "It's a huge step forward for women's cycling," said Trott. "For Britain it's a huge step up. After all the talk about whether women should have a Tour de France, we've shown that we can race as hard and as well as the men, and with the Tour coming to the UK it's nice for us to have a showcase event here."
Trott was playing down the inevitable expectations by claiming that she is most likely to play a team role in support of Giorgia Bronzini or Linda Villumsen, but Gilmore says she should not necessarily limit herself to that. "Laura's bigger ambitions lie on the track, but opportunities might come up and she's definitely capable of winning a stage or getting on the podium early on."
The organisers have had a tricky juggling act due to UCI regulations that compel them to invite the top-10 trade teams and the top-five national teams, coupled with a need to include squads outside the top 10 that boast UK names such as Emma Pooley's Lotto-Belisol.
They have, however, ended up with pretty much every top women's road racer the UK can boast, although there was a late blow on Monday when the Olympic track champion Joanna Rowsell was forced to withdraw from Wiggle-Honda's lineup through illness. Her fellow team pursuiter Dani King is in, so too Pooley, the double world junior champion Lucy Garner, and Hannah Barnes, a prolific winner on British roads before transferring to the US-based United Healthcare squad.
The only regret, perhaps – along with the fact that Dave Brailsford and his fellow Great Britain managers have never seen fit to develop a senior road squad over the years, because this would surely have been their moment – is that there is only room for one home-based British team outside the UCI rankings, the long-established Matrix Fitness-Vulpine squad led by the cyclo-cross star Helen Wyman and managed by her husband, Stefan.
Matrix lost their Dutch sprinter Sigrid Jochems due to a crash in their last buildup race, so "we will have to box clever", said Stefan Wyman. "We've got a couple of fast finishers and we will have to look for a break or two." He feels that for all its flat profile, the five stages could offer opportunities for the race to split, particularly if the wind blows. "It's harder than it's been billed, typical Beds, Herts and Bucks lanes where the road twists and is narrow between hedges then goes on to a windswept hill.
"It's a huge opportunity. We need to show that British racing is at a high level, so that European teams will pick British riders for development in future. This country can support a far more extensive calendar of races so once it's over we need to keep shooting for the stars – it would be good to look back in 10 years time and say riders in Europe need to prove themselves in order to race in Britain."
Women's Tour of Britain explained
Why is the route based in the East Midlands and East Anglia?
The organisers took soundings among the European teams who said they wanted a minimum of transfers and a location that would be easy to reach. That meant east or south-east England; they also took into account that the western side of the country will get to see the men's Tour of Britain while the north, or Yorkshire at least, hosts the Tour de France.
Who is going to win it?
On paper it's a flattish route with stages for the sprinters and time bonuses on offer, but this will be an unpredictable race because the roads are trickier than might be expected, while with teams of only six it won't be an easy one to control. On form so far this year, Lizzie Armitstead is the big favourite, while Marianne Vos is so good that she can win in any kind of finish.
What's up for grabs?
Yellow jersey for the overall, green points jersey, an orange dotted best climber's jersey, a white jersey for best young rider and a red-white and blue one for the best Brit.
Where does the Women's Tour sit in the greater scheme of things?
It's definitely the biggest ever women's bike race in this country, and it carries a UCI rank of 2.1, placing it among the top 100 events in the world, one tier down from the World Cup. It's the only UCI-ranked race in the UK; next biggest at national level are the Shutt Velo Rapide Three Days of Bedford, the Matrix Fitness Tour series of six criteriums and the 11-event British Cycling national series.
Who are the home riders to watch?
As well as Armitstead, Lucy Garner is a double world junior champion with a sprint that should come in handy, Hannah Barnes is also rapid, Laura Trott needs no introduction and Emma Pooley is a class act although she probably needs more climbs to show her very best.