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Tour de France riders are not expected to stop and take in the view from Holme Moss (CC licensed image by Ulleskelf:Flickr)Timings of Tour de France opening stages announced
Organisers of the Tour de France’s two opening stages in Yorkshire on July 5 and 6 have announced the full timings of the two days of racing so fans can plan their vantage points.
Stage One will start from Leeds at 11:10 on the morning of Saturday July 5, but will pass through a fairly long neutral section until racing gets underway when the race turns off the A61 on to the A659 some 9 miles out of the city.
Depending on the race speed, riders are expected to arrive at the finish line in Harrogate between 16:20 and 16:46. Harrogate is the home town of sprint star Mark Cavendish’s mum, and Cav has already expressed his determination to take the race’s first yellow jersey there.
Talking to Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport last year, Cavendish said: “I haven’t yet worn the yellow jersey in the Tour de France. I had the opportunity this year but a crash stopped that, so to be able to that in my mum’s home town, it’s sweet, it will be a big goal, probably the single most important day of the year.”
On the way to Harrogate, the race will pass over the Cat 3 Buttertubs Pass between 14:22pm and 14:36 and tackle the climb of Grinton Moor at 14:57-15:15.
For those looking for a handful of daft promotional tat thrown out by people attached to strangely decorated vehicles, the publicity caravan will precede the race by two hours.
Stage Two will leave York at 11:00 on the morning of Sunday July 6. There’s a shorter neutralised section this time before racing gets started properly on the A59 at 11:20.
The hilliest of the three British stages has a total of eight categorised climbs, the biggest of which is Holme Moss in the Pennines, rated Cat 2. The race tackles the northern ascent of Holme Moss, considered one of the country’s hardest climbs and is due to reach the summit between 14:49 and 15:12. Riders will still have four more hills to tackle before arriving in the centre of Sheffield between 16:14 and 16:46.
Full details of the route of Stage Three, from Cambridge to London, are yet to be announced.
John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
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19 comments
After time spent on box hill last year and not really seeing a lot. I think we'll be parked up somewhere on the roll out with a picnic, bottle of wine (or two) and a TV to watch the rest of the day.
The climbs sound *so* wrong with the comedy french bits added. Leave 'em alone!
Let's just hope it's not windy on the day of Stage 11 - because if it is Leeds is going to be a nightmare to get into.
You can see the arrangements for the finish of Stage 1 in Harrogate here, including a map http://hedgehogcycling.co.uk/harrogate-town-centre-tour-de-france-2014.html
I suspect that the seats in the grandstands near the war memorial will be taken fairly early in the day.
You can see details of road closures announced by North Yorkshire County Council here http://hedgehogcycling.co.uk/road-closures-tour-de-france-2014.html
I guess for other areas, it will be down to the local authority with responsibility for highways.
thanks for the link - basically shows only the route being closed but you'd think there might be other routes affected. We're staying in Lofthouse, slap bang in the middle of S1 and were planning to ride out towards Leyburn partly along the route in the morning so it's the detail on access by bike and foot that is the main concern, i think you'd be a mug to go out in your car that day.
Reckon I'll get over to Harrogate and squeeze onto the finish line for stage one. Stage two's going to be easy - ensconce myself in a Hebden boozer then pop out to to cheer the fellas on as they come through. Then back in the boozer.
I like this plan.
Just need to find a pub with Eurosport.
I have the hotel in Sheffield booked and paid for
Skipton's local paper says, "8 hour road closures" but no indication of how it's going to be achieved: http://www.cravenherald.co.uk/news/10958302.8_hour_road_closures_announc...
Hopefully cyclists and walkers will be able to access suitable viewing points?
it would great - Road.cc staffers - if you could employ your investigative journo skills and try and find out what the road closure and access policy will be on the day. I imagine it's pretty crucial to many people's viewing plans.
I'd like to watch on Cragg Vale, but I'll have the missus and 2 babies in tow - is this even doable? Estimated time of pass-through is 12 for the caravan and 2 for the race. Wouldn't we have to turn up at like 7am, fully loaded with all the baby paraphernalia for the best part of a day? We probably wouldn't have nearby access to the car either, would we?
My gut feeling is that the local plod are going to be all out weapons for this, I reckon trying to cycle on the route is going to be sketchy enough, I think cars are going to be less than useless anywhere near the route on the day.
That is my gut feeling though, it isn't based on any official information or knowledge.
Holme Moss? One of the country's hardest? I don't think so.
Cote de Blubberhouses indeed!
I want to see how they fair up jenkins road
have to love the naming.
Cote de Griton Moor, Love it.
Grinton Moor darling, oh sod it Griton sounds better.
So excited!!!