The host towns for the next edition of the Tour de Yorkshire have been announced by Welcome to Yorkshire and their partners ASO. The 2016 race will take place between Friday April 29 and Sunday May 1 with the women’s race held on Saturday April 30.
The inaugural Tour de Yorkshire was held in May and won by Team Sky’s Lars Petter Nordhaug. It attracted one and a half million spectators and over six million television viewers worldwide. There had been hopes that a fourth stage could be added for 2016, but the request was rejected by British Cycling. There will therefore be six start and finish towns: Beverley, Doncaster, Middlesbrough, Otley, Scarborough and Settle.
In bidding to upgrade the race’s status from 2.1 to 2.HC, Welcome to Yorkshire and ASO had hoped to tempt bigger names to take part as well as bring in sponsors to lift the profile of the women's race. Last year’s women’s race took place in York and was won by Louise Mahé. Being as Otley is the hometown of World Champion Lizzie Armitstead, it could possibly play host to the 2016 edition – although this has not been confirmed.
Welcome to Yorkshire says it received fourteen expressions of interest to host a stage start or finish in 2016 or 2017 and a small number of 2017 locations have also been announced. Fox Valley (Sheffield), Halifax, Harrogate and Selby will all host the race the year after next.
Sir Gary Verity, Chief Executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, said:
“From the first moments of the inaugural Tour de Yorkshire, everyone who was there knew it was something special. I’m delighted that we are able to bring the 2016 race to all four corners of Yorkshire. It is testament to how much the county has taken the race to its heart that we have been oversubscribed for next year’s starts and finishes.
“The Tour de Yorkshire is an event in the cycling calendar that riders want to race in and we look forward to welcoming some of the world’s best riders back to Yorkshire next year.”
Christian Prudhomme, Director of the Tour de France at ASO, described Yorkshire as being ‘perfectly suited to international racing,’ adding: “Many of the teams and riders said that the Tour de Yorkshire reminds them of the Tour de France’s Grand Départ, with the routes, crowds and atmosphere once again combining to create a very special race”.
The full 2016 race route will be announced in December, including stage distances and profiles.
11 thoughts on “Tour de Yorkshire start and finish towns announced for 2016 (plus a few for 2017)”
If they’re going to
If they’re going to Middlesbrough then I really hope they have a crack at Chimney Bank, Rosedale on they way there or back.
MamilMan wrote:If they’re
Arriving via Carlton Bank? <:P
Looked like Carlton Bank was
Looked like Carlton Bank was getting resurfaced earlier this week, hopefully will be on the stage
What do we
What do we reckon…?
Settle-Otley for the Dales
Middlesbrough-Scarborough for the Moors
Beverley-Doncaster for the elderly?
Didn’t realise that
Didn’t realise that Middlesbrough was in Yorkshire… 😕
brooksby wrote:Didn’t realise
Having briefly been moved into made-up counties of Teesside and Cleveland, Middlesbrough has been back where it belongs in North Yorkshire for almost 20 years… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middlesbrough
Malaconotus wrote:brooksby
Wow, really ? Always thought that Middlesbrough was somewhere Other, and definitely not Yorkshire…
brooksby wrote:Malaconotus
Wow, really ? Always thought that Middlesbrough was somewhere Other, and definitely not Yorkshire…— brooksby
Teeside & Cleveland are not counties, they were set up to split the labour vote in the 1970s, the county boundary hasn’t changed just the administration has.
brooksby wrote:…Always
Having grown up in Teesside, I can confirm that Miserablesbrough is very Other in a lot of ways. Not as Other as Hull or Bristol, but sadly much more depressing.
It is amusing that the route has all the Pros LEAVING Miserablesbrough. That is quite suitable and fitting. Anyone familiar with the area will know that leaving is a good idea.
. . wrote:What do we
Probably.
Maybe.
Cheeky.
Notice how this 2015 map for TdY differs from the one shown today for 2016:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-30574400
The 2016 map has a version of ‘Yorkshire’ that is one of the nine official regions of England: ‘Yorkshire and the Humber’. This region includes North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire (er, but not Middlesbrough which – along with Redcar and Cleveland – is in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire but not in the “shire county” so says Wikipedia). Oh, I’ve just noticed that some versions of the 2015 map dipped immediately below the Humber, too. Anyway, my money is on a trip over the Humber Bridge (still the longest single-span suspension bridge it is legal to cycle over, folks)…
Doncaster to Scarborough: over the Humber Bridge then through Hull city centre to test out the response of the crowds for 2017 (having gone over Côte de Anlaby Road flyover thereby avoiding the potentially embarrassing scenes of waiting at a railway crossing). Then up along the ‘heritage coast’ and a wiggly route to Scarborough.
Beverley to Middlesbrough: a warm-up on the beautiful Yorkshire Wolds then up on the Moors via Blakey Ridge (not Bank) and a wiggly route to Middlesbrough.
They will simply HAVE to put
They will simply HAVE to put on a women’s road race ending in Otley, it is a no brainier, Lizzie will take her team and try to win it, which should bring some other big teams who want to beat her. Then the case can be made to extend the womans race 8>