Three day race planned for Yorkshire in 2015

[MatParker117]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/welcome2yorkshire-plan-for-three-day-worldtour-race-in-2015

Welcome2Yorkshire chief executive Gary Verity has confirmed that he is in negotiations with Tour de France organisers ASO in a bid to bring a three-day race to Yorkshire in 2015.

The English county will play host to the Tour de France’s Grand Depart in 2014 but Verity, who is keen to build on the legacy of the event, has aspirations of a Yorkshire based three-day race similar to the Criterium International, an ASO event that takes place in the spring of each year.

It's a simple race to plan just run the first two tour stages and add a time trial through Sheffield as a finish.

 

[trevim]

“We’ve said all the way along that we’re keen for Yorkshire to become the cycling capital of Europe and wrestle that away from the Belgians."

Of course.

 

[Gloin22]

Should be good as Yorkshire has good terrain to provide. A flat stage, a hilly stage and a prologue would make it quite intresting imo at least. Something different to other races.

 

[mattghg]

a time trial through Sheffield as a finish.

Not a flat TT then...

 

[roundabout]

“We’ve said all the way along that we’re keen for Yorkshire to become the cycling capital of Europe and wrestle that away from the Belgians."

Of course.

Don't worry. They have a loooong way to go.

 

[RownhamHill]

Don't worry. They have a loooong way to go.

Why do people say stuff like that?

Yeah great, develop a new interesting race in a place with loads of interesting terrain? Brilliant idea. Make it stick and turn into a regular/prestigious date on the calendar that attracts decent riders? Less easy, but a worthy and admirable ambition. Claim that said race is going to overturn 100 years of tradition and a complete season of races that some riders dedicate their entire careers to? Whoops, guess what, you've made yourself look like a ****.

 

[jens_attacks]

reminds me of this great song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1aNHE1rSCs

Let us milk this cow, the best way we know how




as long as it's not boring, i'm fine with it

 

[jens_attacks]

this is the real 4th grand tour,forget cali

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Plenty of clowns around the world, also in Yorkshire: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSP4YPe3bmo

Small teams, narrow roads and up-down all day. Bring it on.

 

[Catwhoorg]

Yorkshire getting a 3 day race - great idea. Lots of great roads and terrain to make it interesting, plus plenty of scope for variations.

Outdoing Belgium ?
I suspect Gary had been out partying with the Mayor of Toronto

 

[Libertine Seguros]

This could be a very good race. They could have different routes each year, and it would have a lot of potential. Cobbled hills are available (the Shibden Wall was posted in the Great Unknown Climbs thread), in the north of the county there's the old climbs British fans bring up from the old Tour of Britain, like Sutton Bank and Rosedale Chimney Bank, and as we know from the Tour a route into Sheffield is capable of being brutal, and combined with small teams and (depending on time of year) potential adverse weather, this could be a real tough race that would provide some really entertaining racing.

Not sure why everything has to be ASO though. Except Dubai, obviously. I guess you can benefit from their nous, but I'd quite like to have more organisational committees with good experience of setting up races, so as to have more variety. You know how the F1 calendar has got more and more boring since they gave one guy the contract to design all the new courses and reprofile most of the old ones? I'd like to make sure there isn't the danger of similar things happening in cycling. The wintersports season simply isn't long enough.

 

[MartinGT]

Stages has been announced.

Stage 3 the final few kms are hard! Cow & Calf, East Chevin and Black Hill. All short sharp climbs.

LOVE IT!

 

[del1962]

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

 

[MatParker117]

G vs Impey then.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Côte de Cow and Calf.. Love it

 

[MartinGT]

After the sprint at Arthington they have Black Hill. Its not long at only 1.5km(ish) but it tops out at close to 16% in places and on avg over 10%.

 

[Catwhoorg]

Some nice climbs there.

Be nicer still if one day actually had a climb much closer to the finish line.

 

[Albert Fishwick]

A lot of those roads around Otley and back into Leeds are also quite narrow and not in the best condition. I can't imagine there will be a big budget for road repairs as there was for the Tour. Could be interesting!

 

[Catwhoorg]

Another point though.

3 day race for men.
Includes a crit for women.

This would have been a great opportunity for a 3 day womens race.
Start a earlier, a little down the road run to a common finish area.

*sigh*

 

[nhowson]

Some nice climbs there.

Be nicer still if one day actually had a climb much closer to the finish line.

They wouldn't give a finish to Sheffield the first year after they got a finish from the Tour. 2015 is going to be about consolidating the new fans from the TdF by going to other cities, and having start towns get the more prestigious and sportingly exciting finishes.

 

[MartinGT]

A lot of those roads around Otley and back into Leeds are also quite narrow and not in the best condition. I can't imagine there will be a big budget for road repairs as there was for the Tour. Could be interesting!

They arent that bad tbh. The road from Pool to Arthington was resurfaced last year for the Tour.

The descent from West Chevin to Birdcage Walk will be interesting though as its off camber and isnt great.

The pro's dont always race on great roads though so its not an issue.

 

[Geraint Too Fast]

"I really want to see a race go through Rosedale but avoid Chimney Bank" said no cycling fan ever.

 

[Angliru]

“We’ve said all the way along that we’re keen for Yorkshire to become the cycling capital of Europe and wrestle that away from the Belgians."

Of course.

How ridiculous! This is comparable to the hyperbole of the Tour of California organizers.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Colour me mixed feelings. With six man teams, this could be cool. With eight man teams, this will be disappointing, because the climbs are too far out against stronger/larger squads. The Scarborough stage we should hope for wind near the end; a few punchy climbs then an exposed coastal run-in could be good. Though the York stage is quite disappointing. A semitappe with a short ITT in York rather than circuits there could have been far better, encouraging some more aggressive racing in the Leeds stage.

They wouldn't give a finish to Sheffield the first year after they got a finish from the Tour. 2015 is going to be about consolidating the new fans from the TdF by going to other cities, and having start towns get the more prestigious and sportingly exciting finishes.

Leeds has a finish though.

"I really want to see a race go through Rosedale but avoid Chimney Bank" said no cycling fan ever.

Hahaha absolutely. I also note the distinct lack of Sutton Bank or in fact almost all of the Yorkshire Dales climbs, and also there are none of the great cobbled climbs near Halifax either.

This could be an amazing race in theory; the stages presented suggest it will be somewhere between mediocre and good, depending on weather, field and team size.

 

[Pricey_sky]

The route is ok, can't say it's any better than that though, after the great design of last years Tour stage 2 they could have done more.