Skegness Is So Bracing: Recreating the Jolly Fisherman for the Tour of Britain
There’s nothing quite like the smell of sea air, the sound of seagulls plotting to steal your chips, and the crisp Lincolnshire turf under our feet.
When the Tour of Britain race directors announced that Stage Two would be sweeping across Lincolnshire and barreling toward a grand finish right on the Skegness coast, East Lindsey District Council asked to do something massive and create a series of pieces of Land Art. And in Skegness, you don’t go massive without paying homage to the absolute king of the seafront: John Hassall’s iconic 1908 Jolly Fisherman.
Except, because this is the UK’s premier professional cycling race, our skip-along salt couldn’t just be prancing on foot. He needed a upgrade.Trading the Shoreline for a SaddleIf you’ve ever seen the original “Skegness is So Bracing” poster, you know the vibe: yellow boots, pipe in mouth, skipping joyfully over the sand.For the Tour of Britain, lead artist Jamie Wardley and the rest of our team took over the grass near the Arnold Palmer Putting Course right by the finish line. The mission? Transform a massive swath of green into a sprawling, high-octane homage to Skegness history.We put the Jolly Fisherman on a bicycle.Land art on this scale isn’t just drawing. Using eco-friendly line paint and precise turf-shading techniques, we brought the linework to life. Every fold of his jacket and spoke on his wheels had to be bold enough to pop from up in the air. The piece was 36 x36 metres and took 5 people, 2 days to create. The thrill of Tour of Britain land art is the sheer speed of it all. The world’s elite riders tear down the road at 45 km/h, the lead helicopters sweep overhead, and for a few glorious seconds on live national television, your art becomes part of the landscape of British cycling history.As the peloton sprinted toward the Skegness finish line, there he was: the Jolly Fisherman, pedaling along right beside them, proving that 118 years after his creation, he’s still got the best legs in Lincolnshire.
Stage 2 of the Lloyds Tour of Britain Men covers 181.1 kilometres across Lincolnshire, running from Boston to a seafront finish in Skegness.Starting in Boston’s historic Market Place, the peloton loops through Coningsby, Woodhall Spa, Horncastle, and Wragby before swinging into the Lincolnshire Wolds. From there, the race routes through Louth and hits the coast at Mablethorpe and Sutton-on-Sea, tracking south toward the finish at Skegness’ Grand Parade.With only 873 metres of elevation gain, it is the flattest stage of the tour and the only one with under 1,000 meters of total climbing.The route features two minor King of the Mountains (KOM) ascents around the middle of the stage—Kirmond Road and Rothwell Hill —along with a brief rise near Langton Hill.While the climbs are straightforward, exposure to crosswinds along the Lincolnshire coast and the Wolds presents the main risk for breaking up the peloton before the run-in.The long, flat final 3 kilometres setting up along the coast are designed for a fast, full-peloton sprint finish.Belgian sprinter Tim Merlier won Stage 2 in Skegness. He launched a long-range sprint with around 250 metres to go right after the final left-hand bend on Grand Parade, winning comfortably by over two bike lengths. Olav Kooij came in second, and Sam Bennett finished third.Huge thanks to East Lindsey District Council and the people of Skegness for welcoming our team back to the coast.
