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Videos: Three films showcase Yorkshire's Tour de France starring role

Yorkshire Dales, frame builder Ricky Feather and some big letters all feature in video shorts

With a shade over eight months to go until the 2014 Tour de France starts, excitement is building in Yorkshire over hosting the Grand Départ and here are a trio of short films showcasing the region’s spectacular scenery as well as some of the roads that will feature.

The first, called A Grand Day Out: The Movie, comes from the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority.

It follows a small group of cyclists as they explore the beautiful surroundings and tackle some of the same climbs as the peloton will during the Tour.

The film comes complete with a quirky commentary by none other than veteran cycling commentator, Phil Liggett.

The National Park Authority has its own website dedicated to cycling, Cycle the Dales, aimed at everyone from seasoned roadies to families looking for short rides suitable for parents and children.

The website also has a list of Le Tour FAQs regarding the race’s visit to the Yorkshire Dales, and you can also sign up for an email newsletter, the first edition of which will be sent out this month.

Some of the same scenery is shown in a video form Welcome To Yorkshire that was unveiled at the presentation of the route of the 2014 Tour de France in Paris less than a fortnight ago.

In the film, called Made In Yorkshire, we see York-based framemaker Ricky Feather take a spin on some of the roads the Tour will visit, as well as spectacular aerial footage of Yorkshire’s spectacular scenery.

Finally, here’s a nice film from Bradford-based festival and community arts group, Hugh Jart, who drove the route of Stage 1 from Leeds to Harrogate, marking the points the race will pass with place names in giant letters painted, of course, in yellow.

 

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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8 comments

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Sudor | 10 years ago
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What a cool Collie - the star of third vid along with t'rain and t'views.

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FreeWheelinFrank | 10 years ago
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Did anyone notice the sub-headline in the road.cc weekly email?

"Red rose county displays its cycling charms in triplicate"

Red? Red? What planet are they on? Yorkshire is the white rose.

L**ncashire is the f***ing red rose.

Southerners. They know nowt.

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Psycling | 10 years ago
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Brilliant!! Loved the third film.

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timothy | 10 years ago
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Dales Bike Center is great, always welcoming and when busy everyone shares a table, adds to the atmosphere and you meet new people. Coffee is great especially with one of Brens cakes.

Christian Prudhomme is a regular.

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Gus T | 10 years ago
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Can highly recommend the home made scones at the cafe in Muker, on the front of the video. Just order tea & scones & a second tea as the portions are massive, a small business run by a nice young couple who bake everything themselves. Would also recommend the breakfasts at the Dales Mountain Bike Center in Fremington. Stu who owns the centre has battled for years against the National Parks Service to achieve his dream and deserves all the support we cyclists can give him. I've been holidaying at a cottage in that area for the last 3 years and always pop in to see him. He & his wife are a thoroughly nice couple.  8

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Northernbike replied to Gus T | 10 years ago
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Gus T wrote:

Can highly recommend the home made scones at the cafe in Muker, on the front of the video. Just order tea & scones & a second tea as the portions are massive, a small business run by a nice young couple who bake everything themselves. Would also recommend the breakfasts at the Dales Mountain Bike Center in Fremington. Stu who owns the centre has battled for years against the National Parks Service to achieve his dream and deserves all the support we cyclists can give him. I've been holidaying at a cottage in that area for the last 3 years and always pop in to see him. He & his wife are a thoroughly nice couple.  8

It's ok but the bike centre cafe is small and often seems to be full of people who have driven there in the car rather than ridden on a bike and who look down their noses at a sweaty cyclist gate crashing their sunday lunch.

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sm | 10 years ago
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That second vid is beautiful. Phil's commentary is a little cheesy in the first, but enjoyable. Milk it Yorkshire, seriously, this is gonna be huge!

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Northernbike replied to sm | 10 years ago
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sm wrote:

That second vid is beautiful. Phil's commentary is a little cheesy in the first, but enjoyable. Milk it Yorkshire, seriously, this is gonna be huge!

The welcome to yorkshire video looks great but if you look closely the cyclist gets noticably older towards the end as they needed five years worth of sunny days to get the four minutes of footage

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