Heavy rain in Yorkshire overnight has forced organisers to re-route today’s men’s road race at the UCI Road Cycling World Championships.
The weather conditions also mean that the Fan Zone in Harrogate is closed today for safety reasons.
As the picture in the tweet below shows, there was standing water at the bottom of the Buttertubs pass, rendering it impassable.
Bottom of Buttertubs now pic.twitter.com/08fCIeYJeL
— Nathan Robert Lamb (@nathanlufclamb) September 29, 2019
That climb has now been omitted from today’s parcours, as has the climb of Grinton Moor.
The full statement from organisers appears below.
Due to heavy rain that continues to fall across the northern section of the Elite Men’s Road Race route, Yorkshire 2019 and the UCI have taken the decision to divert the route at Bishopdale Beck just outside Aysgarth, and to direct riders east up Temple Bank and along the A684 to Leyburn where the race will continue as normal.
The decision was made after extensive consultation with the UCI, our multi-agency partners, the environment agency and local mountain rescue teams. We consider the safety of spectators and riders as paramount and want everyone to enjoy the racing, but the conditions in the Dales puts that at risk.
This means, regrettably, that the race will not now pass through Bainbridge, Hawes, Buttertubs, Muker, Gunnerside, Reeth, and Grinton Moor. We know this will be hugely disappointing to the communities in these locations who have been planning events and celebrations to coincide with the race today. We are very sorry.
However, the Elite Men’s Road Race does go ahead today starting in Leeds at the later time of 9:00am. Spectators who were hoping to see the race in Wensleydale and Swaledale should head to West Witton, Wensley or Leyburn where they can view the race as it passes through just before 11:00am. There will also be nine laps of the Harrogate circuit before the finish on Parliament Street.
17 thoughts on “Weather forces re-routing of World Championship road race”
My goodness it’s wet. There
My goodness it’s wet. There are marshals warning of areas of standing water.
Its utterly brutal. Will be
Its utterly brutal. Will be well-earned rainbows this year. Thoroughly enjoying watching this race tucked up on the sofa. Hopefully everyone who rode up Buttertubs at silly o’clock this morning can get home.
Also, feels like this race is
Also, feels like this race is done already. Can’t see them pulling back over 4 minutes on Roglic, Quintana, and Carapaz in these conditions.
kil0ran wrote:
Well, that worked out well
Contentious, Chris and
Contentious, Chris and Rochelle are discussing disks right at the moment.
Just returned from watching
Just returned from watching the riders head towards Kettlewell. Road conditions are very poor. Many of the riders looked utterly pissed off.
The peloton
The peloton
No proper TV footage because
No proper TV footage because it’s raining in Yorkshire in September. This worlds is approaching pissup/brewery territory.
Jackson wrote:
There’s some really miserable people on here!
Weather in the UK isn’t even close to an exact science, it could be raining, it could be sunny and you can say the same pretty much from March to October.
The weather in Spain during the Vuelta was atrocious at times.
The weather in France in July meant entire stages of the race were altered or abandoned mid-way through.
The weather in the UK in May for the Women’s Tour was also terrible on a couple of days. And very good for a couple.
crazy-legs wrote:
No proper TV footage because it’s raining in Yorkshire in September. This worlds is approaching pissup/brewery territory.
— crazy-legs There’s some really miserable people on here! Weather in the UK isn’t even close to an exact science, it could be raining, it could be sunny and you can say the same pretty much from March to October. The weather in Spain during the Vuelta was atrocious at times. The weather in France in July meant entire stages of the race were altered or abandoned mid-way through. The weather in the UK in May for the Women’s Tour was also terrible on a couple of days. And very good for a couple.— Jackson
I’m not complaining that the weather is bad, I’m saying that they should have thought about what they’d do if it was.
It’s always pissing down in the Giro, Tour de Romandie, half the spring classics and Paris-Nice and they manage to have contingencies in place. It was pissing down in Bergen in 2017 and the Norwegians managed to get pictures out fine. Apparently the grand tours normally have three relay planes and Yorkshire has one.
Quote:
The Norwegians lost the pictures for the final 4 km remember, so it’s not just us!
The problem was there was a sizable storm passing across the UK. Yorshire missed the worst of it, but it ment that for a time, the plane flying overhead relaying the motorbike pictures had to move away for a time due to safty reasons. Having more planes would not have helped, as they would all have had to move away.
When it comes to contingencies, its really a case of how much money you want to invest. The weather we had today was certinally not unique in the UK, but it was at the extreme end of what could be expected.
Just been over Harrogate
Just been over Harrogate again, it really is shitty weather.
Chapeau to all those who were cycling over, you mad bastards! Car for me today! (then again I have a decent spot at my parents house to dump the thing)
And yet, regularly on the
And yet, regularly on the tour we lose pictures. With three planes. Funny that.
Zebulebu wrote:
On a rainy alpine descent for a few minutes maybe. Not for an hour in some farmland in one of the most densely populated countries in Europe.
Anyway, coverage is back now.
Anyone else notice the Lion
Anyone else notice the Lion of (Ned) Flanders flag? Just after the bridge.
.
.
The point I was making is
The point I was making is that it isn’t as simple as people think to broadcast a bike race. This happened in Bergen a couple of years ago as well – and the number of planes relaying coverage has nothing do do with it being ‘Yorkshire’ – its a UCI event, they provide the coverage and they provide the planes.