Gendarmes at Tour de France
Harrogate and Sheffield will both host stage finishes when the 2014 Tour de France starts in Yorkshire, it was confirmed today.
York and Cambridge were also named as start towns on the British stages.
Leeds and London had already been confirmed as the other two British stage towns when it was announced that Yorkshire had won the bid in December.
Details of the British stages were unveiled at a press conference in Paris this morning, with additional information set to be revealed at another function in Leeds this afternoon.
The opening stage on Saturday July 5 will be a road stage between Leeds and Harrogate. It will pass through Harewood, Otley, Ilkley, Skipton, Kettlewell, Aysgarth, Hawes, Reeth, Leyburn, Ripon and Harrogate.
Although weaving through the Dales, climbs are limited and it's likely to make for a flat sprint finish.
Stage two starts just down the road in York and promises to be a punchy day in the Pennines before a finish in Sheffield. The Tour organisers have made comparisons to Liege-Bastogne-Liege, with six climbs coming in the final 60km.
Along the way, the stage will pass through Knaresborough, Silsden, Keighley, Haworth, Hebden Bridge, Elland, Huddersfield and Holmfirth. Climbs are likley to include Oxenhope Moor, Cragg Vale, Ripponden Bank and Holme Moss.
After a transfer south, the third stage is a leg between Cambridge and London with a finish on the Mall. A report posted on the website of the Waltham Forest Guardian yesterday suggested that the route would enter London via Epping Forest, Lea Bridge Road and the Olympic Park.
The Tour de France last visited the UK in 2007 when London hosted the prologue time trial and the start of the first stage to Canterbury.
The Tour also visited the UK in 1994 and 1974.
Stage one: Leeds - Harrogate
Stage two: York - Sheffield
Stage three: Cambridge - London
Related links
Yorkshire to host start of 2014 Tour de France
Yorkshire Tour de France bid to be discussed by MPs
British Tour de France Grand Depart details unveiled
Yorkshire in formal bid to host Tour de France start
Reader comments
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martin thornton
January 17 11:32
brilliant cant wait for this. been riding these roads round huddersfield and hebden bridge for years. its gonna be cracking
JD
January 17 12:22
A rare chance for a sprinter to grab the Maillot Jaune. Good thinking.
Steve
January 17 12:34
Buttertubs is a decent climb! Between Wensleydale & Swaledale, absolutely beautiful with a couple of 25% ers!
Phil Appleby
January 17 12:55
Stage 1 on a map: http://tinyurl.com/b6ys2x3 Stage 2 on a map: http://tinyurl.com/azeuygq
stuart stanton
January 17 14:55
The atmosphere around Leeds Town Hall, just down the road from here, is building up right now, The place is covered in huge Tour Logo drapes, something like those 1980's Christo art works when he 'wrapped up' landmark buildings. Some joker has told me that he hopes it buckets down in Hebden Bridge (floods last siummer) when the Tour goes through so we can have a recreation of that stage to Blagnac in 1987 when the water was over bottom bracket height and Roche was in fear of drowning
Nick Williamson
January 17 16:25
Has anybody actually looked at the route for stage one. Its a proper climb out of Wharfedale , followed by Buttertubs which is a more than decent climb by British standards , followed by a potentially crazy descent into Swaledale. There is then a decent climb back into Wensleydale. It;s arguably got more decent climbing than any of the recent Tour of Britain routes. Journalists keep parroting the idea that this is a relatively flat route. Have any of them actually ridden in the Dales? The combination of sharp climbs and narrow roads could easily lead to splits in the field, then a hard chase to get the sprinters into contention. It looks like a great route to me.
mick marston
January 17 17:31
Looks like it's coming past our house in High Bradfield!
Ken Evans
January 17 17:45
What happened to the Prologue ?
stuart stanton
January 17 19:22
Never planned for Ken. M. Proud'homme is not a fan, waste of a full day however you look at it. Our Security man just came back from the Town Hall, seems to be have been an impressive show but he wants to know why they brought out an actor from Emmerdale Farm and then Nick Clegg onto the stage
Bob
January 17 21:16
Amazing, my home town Harrogate plays host to the first day final sprint and then the tour passes through the next the day. Vive le tour!
roginoz
January 18 04:37
etapes 1 & 2 will be great esp 1 thru t dales..narrow though...beaut Wharfedale up past Cray then Buttertubs Muker and Reeth . If it had finished in Masham( Massum ) everyone would have been sloshed on Theakstons Old Peculier !! Peculier meant an area or parish.
Richard Davis
January 18 18:33
http://tinyurl.com/azeuygq The route between Langsett and Sheffield is boringly different on this link to other 'official' published maps. They surely can't be considering a leg of the route on part of Stocksbridge by-pass!!!