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news
Video: 2017 Tour de Yorkshire route unveiled (+ stage maps)
The route of the 2017 Tour de Yorkshire has been unveiled today, with the three day race starting on Friday 28 April with a 173km stage from Bridlington to Scarborough - a repeat of the opening stage of last year's inaugural edition - and finishing in Sheffield two days later.
Organisers ASO and Welcome to Yorkshire say tht the final stage of April's race will be the toughest in the event's three-year history, with eight categorised climbs on the 194.5km parcours from Bradford.
Between those opening and closing stages, there's a finish for Stage 2 in Harrogate, where Mark Cavendish crashed on the opening day of the 2014 Tour de France while looking to challenge Marcel Kittel for the stage win and the yellow jersey. Covering 122.5km, that stage starts in Tadcaster. The route will also be used the same day in the Asda Tour du Yorkshire women's race.
Welcome to Yorkshire Chief Executive Sir Gary Verity said: "I can’t wait to see the world’s best riders tackling these routes. We’ve worked hard to design a course which showcases Yorkshire’s stunning scenery as well as delivering a thrilling sporting event.
“Last year the race attracted 2 million spectators and generated £60 million for the local economy, and we’ll go from strength to strength again next year.
Christian Prudhomme of ASO said: “I always enjoy coming to Yorkshire and the county certainly knows how to put on a show. I am excited by what this year’s route has in store and am sure it will provide three days of fantastic racing.”
Here's a description of each stage provided by Welcome to Yorkshire.
Stage 1: 173km –The Coast and Wolds
Bridlington - Scarborough, Friday 28 April
The race takes the peloton from the coast through the Yorkshire Wolds, starting outside the refurbished Bridlington Spa and heading into Pocklington for the first intermediate sprint. The classified climbs up the Côtes de Garrowby Hill and Goathland will get the legs pumping before the race hits the coastline again at Whitby where the riders will get a great view of the world-famous Abbey as they contest the second sprint of the day. The route continues on to Robin Hood’s Bay for the third and final climb and then it’s full steam into Scarborough for the now-legendary finish along North Bay.
Stage 2: 122.5km – Historic Market Towns
Tadcaster - Harrogate, Saturday 29 April
Starting on Tadcaster Bridge - which will be newly reopened following flood damage last Boxing Day - this stage takes the riders through some of Yorkshire’s finest market towns. They will venture into Knaresborough, where tBe first intermediate sprint points are up for grabs, and the day’s sole categorised climb comes on the fearsome Côte de Lofthouse before the descent into Masham. It’s on to Ripon for the second intermediate sprint and the race will skirt the stunning Fountains Abbey before a fast approach to Harrogate. The action reaches its crescendo along Parliament Street, just as it did on the opening stage of the 2014 Tour de France.
Stage 3: 194.5km – The Yorkshire Terrier
Bradford - Fox Valley (Sheffield) Sunday 30 April
Named The Yorkshire Terrier as this is the toughest stage in the history of the Tour de Yorkshire, riders will start at Bradford City Park before heading into Saltaire. The action then briefly joins the 2014 Tour de France route at Burley-in-Wharfedale before passing the majestic Bolton Abbey and into the Yorkshire Dales. Skipton is the next town on the agenda, with the first of eight categorised climbs being contested on the Côte de Silsden. The following ascent comes on the cobbled rise up Haworth’s picturesque main street and another climb at Leeming must also be tackled before they face the infamous Côte de Shibden Wall. This cobbled brute could see splits form before the intermediate sprint at Clifton. The race then traverses from West to South Yorkshire and into Penistone, and another sprint is on the cards at Stocksbridge before the riders embark on a torturous 22km finishing circuit that features no-less than four categorised climbs. These come at Deepcar, Wigtwizzle, Ewden Height and Midhopestones before the race reaches its climax at Fox Valley.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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19 comments
Sounds like Malton/Norton
Good timing on the finish loop around Stocksbridge - most, if not all, of those roads have just been resurfaced over the Summer and are now a great run out. As this my current stomping ground I'm really looking forward to droppping even further down the Strava rankings
Where is this York Shire? Why are we getting all excited about a weekend in some tiny European country? The Harrow Gate, sounds a bit scary, like something out of Lord ofthe Rings.
It's a strange land, full of hills and sheep. You'd probably like it but there's an immigration procedure for Londoners that lasts about 40 years and finishes with someone silently including you in a round at the pub.
[quote=Morat)
It's a strange land, full of hills and sheep. You'd probably like it but there's an immigration procedure for Londoners that lasts about 40 years and finishes with someone silently including you in a round at the pub.
[/quote]
Bill Bryson, the travel writer, once said it took several years of living in the dales before local drivers would acknowledge him on the road. It started with one finger being lazily lifted from the steering wheel, a move Bryson christened the "Malham wave".
Strange indeed with many sub-levels. I moved out of Harrogate 12 years ago but it seems you have to be born and bred in my current town to be 'from' the place. Add into this a strange in-town geographical split that nobody seems to understand but yet both sides wouldn't live on the other side and a layer of inter-family politics that runs through it all. It's all a bit
North Yorkshire is the best bit though.....;)
The routes are heavily dependent on which towns tip up for starts and finishes, and then plotting manageable routes between them. In previous years they have aimed for two hilly stages and one flat, and they seem to done the same this year.
There are always lots of other great roads to ride, but the routes look well thought out.
The last half of stage 3 covers my local roads as there is a nice mix of attritional roads that a peleton can navigate in safety, with some leg breakers on the finishing loop.
There's always going to be loads left out. Last year they went up Sutton bank but could easily have incorporated any of Boltby bank, Wass bank, Newgate bank, carlton bank, Dalby bank etc.
The moors are a bit trickier due to the ability to get all the vehicles through but places like Bransdale and of course the legendary Rosedale chimney are all worth a visit if you're in that neck of the woods.
Bottom line is there is loads of great cycling all over the county and the Tdy has only showcased a limited amount of it.
Since when did Cav crash in Harrogate in 2012? There was me thinking it was 2014, what a fool I feel now!
The brutal bend on Shibden wall, I'll have to get there early or the taxi won't be allowed up.
PS Stenmeister, if you need more inspiration have a look what Tejvan Pettinger has to say about some of the day3 climbs on 'Cycling uphill'. Most inspiring....ha ha!
Those look like three very well-planned, varied, and probably entertaining stages. Jordan Moss (what they are calling Côte de Lofthouse) has to be the standout for me. 20% climb for about a kilometre the way they are doing it, followed by a dozen kilometres of descent down the other side to Masham, with views all the way across to the North York Moors. It'd be much more like an Alpine or Pyrenean climb going the other way, but I'm not sure a full peloton using rim brakes on crabon wheels would be safe if they went that way. Pity there is no such thing as a mountain-top finish in British cycle races, although I can't think of anywhere in Yorkshire that would have the space to allow it.
Would that be Trapping Hill? Strava reckons a mile of ~12% pretty consistent. Doesn't look too bad on Streetview in terms of steepness. But its very narrow and the surface look terrible - I assume they'll be getting a nce new surface.
As a Yorkshireman from the Plain of Holderness I am disappointed that more is not made of the Yorkshire Wolds. There are beautiful roads sweeping through magnificent scenery, hidden almost sectet valleys coupled with climbs of quiet, majestic brutality.
Thixendale leaps into my mind - heart hammering, vision narrowing, lungs on fire, legs screaming, everything slicked with sweat - admittedly, this has probably more to do with the pork pie and too many pints at the Cross Keys than the road out of Thixendale.
It really is a forgotten gem of the British Isles. Don't take my word for it, come and see for yourself.
I would love to see a route from North Ferriby to Scarborough along the spine of the Wolds. Maybe next year.
That's the kind of local knowledge I need to get me interested in this race. Cheers
I might be a tad biased, but I would have to agree.
That's a hill I have managed to avoid. Not so much for the gradient, but because it is just so busy. There was a Visit Yorkshire magazine a couple of years ago that recommended riding up Garrowby Hill (captured in oils or watercolour or iPad or something by David Hockney a bit back) that clearly wasn't written by a local cyclist. Of course, if I managed to wangle a couple of motorcycle outriders to help me along I might give it a go. (Incidentally, anyone looking for a starting point on hills in the Yorkshire Wolds would do worse than read Roger England's peerless study of these climbs. None of them is a Rosedale Chimney-style chain breaker, but Simon Warren included seven Yorkshire Wolds hills in his book of 75 climbs in Yorkshire.)
Looking forward to it again, but I hope the riders are briefed to watch that cheeky bend dropping off Roman Road after Garrowby Hill to Birdsall.
Yeah, constant traffic, a lot of it HGV stuff and dangerous old people trying to get up it in 5th. For the same reason I've never tried it.
As a scouser who spends a fair bit of time in yorkshire its a beautiful place!
Garrowby Hill. Poor sods.
As non-Yorkshireman, all I need to know is that it's taking place in Yorkshire.