Yorkshire to host 2014 TDF start

[thom]

Looks like Yorkshire will host a bit more than this year's tour. ASO are trying to establish a long term 3 day event based in Yorkshire, similar to the Criterium International but in the summer and with the same UCI ranking.
Gotta be a good thing for UK road racing but I'm thinking it might be better to be more flexible on location; Scotland's Highlands don't get visited by the ToB for example.

 

[SteCenturion]

Cost them £4M
Worth it ?

Every penny !

Think how much revenue will be created & also - post TdF - how many cycling fans will re visit Yorkshire.

 

[SteCenturion]

It's a nice idea to ride over to watch the first stage but there will be an awful lot of traffic and a lot of closed roads. When I went to watch the Kelloggs Tour go over Holme Moss, the roads were clogged solid all around so my mate parked his car and we ran 2 miles to Holme village, getting there just as Sean Yates and Robert Millar were riding past!

I think a better alternative would be a commemorative TdF stage CycleChat forum ride the following weekend. None of this 'Étape du Tour' nonsense - 'Stage of t' Tour'! It would be the longest and hardest of my forum rides ever, so we had better get into training now!

We could do T'tour that dun't T'tour - T'tour - wot dus't reckun ??

 

[SteCenturion]

Thats ok ive got a mate who lives in Bristol, and that is well up north from me.

That's still Daarrnn Saaarf & not nearly Norrf - Enuff

Thats ok ive got a mate who lives in Bristol, and that is well up north from me.

 

[RedRider]

Well, me and my mate are planning on riding up from London - probably on singlespeed bikes! - it's ok tho, we're both northerners.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

I see there are to be 5 Fan Parks in "the UK" as follows:
. West Park Stray, Harrogate: July 3, 4, 5 and 6
. Green Park, London: July 4 (evening), 5, 6 and 7
. International Quarter, Olympic Park, London: July 5, 6, 7
. Trafalgar Square, London: July 5, 6, 7
. Canary Wharf, London: July 24, 25, 26 and 27

So not really "the UK" but the start location and then London. I wonder where the French got their idea of "the UK" from...?

 

[raindog]

John Degenkolb, Marcel Kittel recce Jenkin Road, Sheffield. TDF route Stage 2
reckon they got caught out with standard gearing

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYF5DnPpJQ4

 

[ColinJ]

Nice to see that they are doing their homework!

(And I'm glad it's not just me that rides uphill like that ...)

 

[I like Skol]

Nice to see that they are doing their homework!

(And I'm glad it's not just me that rides uphill like that ...)

Ha, went over Holme Moss today during a ride involving a big loop through Huddersfield and was amazed at the number of cyclists riding up the Moss then turning around at the top and going back the way they came. It has become THE destination of choice for all the Mamil racer wannabees'

 

[Svendo]

More on Giant Shimano's TDF recce on the BBC. I notice the picture is the top of Cragg Vale in the fog, and thought it was this morning as it was foggy enough for me to put lights back on for my commute to work (I'm just over the hill to the west of Cragg Vale.). But the video above was posted 2 days ago so it must have been another foggy day.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

More on Giant Shimano's TDF recce on the BBC.

If the organisers have made the route "too technical and testing" and it does result in some of the top riders being affected/injured then we can kiss goodbye to any repeat visits for a long time; the position of Yorkshire from the start has demonstrated a lack of awareness about Grand Tour racing, their focus being on "let's show this lot of Continentals what we've got, send them up hills and down dales and make it as hard as we can..." which I think will backfire big time.

I might be proved wrong. But I doubt it.

 

[Svendo]

I remember an interview (on a podcast, so probably one of the velocast ones, or the bike show.) with one of the organisers who was clear that the route was agreed with the ASO, and the french were saying they'd love to take the race up park rash etc. but the roads are just too small. Point being the route was actively decided with the race organisers and not given to them by Yorkshire, also they do have a limit on the quality of raod usable, albeit different to Marcel Kittels. And there's history of the early stages taking routes that make crashes seem inevitable, that wet causeway in Brittany(?) for instance.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

I remember an interview (on a podcast, so probably one of the velocast ones, or the bike show.) with one of the organisers who was clear that the route was agreed with the ASO, and the french were saying they'd love to take the race up park rash etc.

The organisers have shown themselves to be less than accurate in their presentation of facts in the past and present, and whilst the route would have been agreed by ASO it is doubtful that they will have agreed to every part of the route km by km. As for the French saying they'd "love to take the race up Park Rash etc" they'll never have heard of the bloody place and just gone with what they were told. This is the French who have the Alps and the Pyrenees...

 

[raindog]

A team of ASO guys will have gone over every kilometre with a fine tooth-comb and studied the area for months.
They clearly love the place, as there will be a yearly ASO 3 day international race in the area starting next season.
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/mar/27/yorkshire-tour-de-france-three-day