Britain turns yellow for three days this summer as the Tour de France returns to the UK for the first time in seven years and ITV, as well as British Eurosport and S4C, will be screening live coverage of all three stages of Yorkshire’s Grand Départ.
Thousands of people are expected to line the streets from Leeds to London over the three days from July 5-7 to mark the start of the 101st running of cycling’s greatest showpiece, with Yorkshire itself hosting the first two stages over the weekend, followed by a third from Cambridge to London on Monday.
Fans will be able to get a close glimpse of Britain’s defending champion Chris Froome, who is favourite to win the race for the second year in a row and hand Great Britain its third successive victory following Bradley Wiggins’ triumph in 2012.
The county of Yorkshire has turned itself yellow as it plays host to the 2014 Grand Depart, which will take place in Leeds on July 5, and the event promises to capture the imagination of the wider UK sporting public following two years of astonishing achievements for British cycling on the world stage.
After many months of build-up and anticipation, the county’s moment in the global sporting spotlight has now arrived and the Opening Ceremony and Team Presentation on Thursday, July 3, will mark the official opening of the Tour’s three-day stay in the UK.
Then on Saturday, the racing itself begins as thousands gather in the centre of Leeds to witness the start of the 2014 Tour de France and the beginning of Yorkshire’s Grand Depart.
Starting in Leeds, stage one takes in the spectacular scenery of the Yorkshire dales, passing through Wensleydale, Hawes and Buttertubs Pass before descending through Leyburn and Ripon and finishing at Harrogate.
Because the last 50km are on flat roads, the odds are very much on a bunch sprint, with multi-stage winner Mark Cavendish one of the favourites to take the victory and pull on the yellow jersey.
Stage two on Saturday is where the contenders for overall victory will come to the fore as the route from York to Sheffield climbs into the Pennines and the Peak District and features the severe climbs of Oxenhope Moor and Holm Moss.
Finally, Stage three on Monday starts in Cambridge and heads for London, taking in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and the capital’s most famous landmarks before finishing in the Mall.
General Classification riders generally view the first week of any Tour as a time to keep out of trouble and let the sprinters fight it out for stage wins, but the combination of Tour debutants, riders out to impress their team sponsors and general first-week nerves is often a recipe for thrills and occasional spills.
The teams with riders gunning for the title will be making every effort to protect their stars, who will have one eye on week two’s mountain stages back in the Tour’s motherland of France, when the race returns home and normality resumes on Tuesday.
You can follow the entire Tour de France, from Yorkshire to Paris, by watching live coverage on ITV, British Eurosport and S4C this summer, as all three channels showcase cycling’s greatest showpiece.
Visit the official Yorkshire Grand Depart website for further information about the opening three stages of the 2014 Tour de France.
LATEST STANDINGS TEAMS / RIDERS ROUTE TV GUIDE
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| THURSDAY 3rd JULY – Start: 18:30 |
The Tour de France 2014 Opening Ceremony and Team Presentation will see the biggest stars from the world of cycling grace the stage as part of a spectacular live event at the First Direct Arena in Leeds.
It will be the biggest ever Team Presentation in the history of the Tour, taking place two days before the Grand Départ gets underway, giving Yorkshire its chance to welcome all 22 teams, including the stars of British cycling, in a glittering ceremony which along with the formal introductions will also feature a range of live music.
Sports presenter Jill Douglas and the voice of the Tour de France Sebastien Piquet will host the special ceremony, which starts at 6.30pm, and the pair will interview riders from the teams during the night’s proceedings.
Defending Tour winner Chris Froome and 25-time stage winner Mark Cavendish will be among those 198 riders from 22 teams who will take part in a special parade, setting off from the University of Leeds, riding into the Leeds Arena for the official presentation ceremony, via Millennium Square, Upper Cookridge Street, Clay Pit Lane and Merrion Way, before arriving at the arena.
Yorkshire band Embrace will headline the live music element of the show alongside Girls Aloud star Kimberley Walsh, who will join York singer songwriter Alistair Griffin on stage to perform The Road, the official Yorkshire’s Grand Départ song.
The orchestra and chorus of Opera North will also perform music specially created for this event throughout the ceremony, conducted by composer Philip Sheppard, who composed music for London 2012.
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| SATURDAY 5th JULY – Start: 10:00 Finish: 16:20 – 16:45 |
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Starting in Leeds and finishing with a dash into Harrogate, the first stage of this year’s Tour will showcase the beautiful Yorkshire Dales and should open with what should be a sprint stage into Harrogate.
The riders will tackle a route that takes in several villages though the Dales with the steep terrain offering an intriguing opening challenge.
In total there are three climbs in the Dales to be negotiated, but the expectation is still of a sprint finish, with Mark Cavendish hoping to take the Yellow Jersey on home soil.
All three climbs come in the middle third of the stage and with the last one being followed by more than 60km of flat to the finish, there is plenty of time for the sprint teams to bring the peloton back together should there be any splits.
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| SUNDAY 6th JULY – Start: 09:20 Finish: 16:15 – 16:45 |
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This 200km long stage will challenge the peloton with constant climbs and several uncategorized ascents along narrow roads, and although early in the race, stage two from York to Sheffield could be one of the hardest days of the whole Tour.
Likened by race director Christian Prudhomme to the Liege-Bastogne-Liege one-day Classic, the route contains no fewer than nine categorised climbs, including five in a truly brutal final 65km.
A sprint finish is expected at the end of this stage, which passes through South, West and North Yorkshire, as well as briefly into Greater Manchester.
However, the riders will find this tough going and the favourites will need to be vigilant of attacks, given the proliferation of short, sharp climbs, particularly towards the end of the stage.
The peloton should stay together for the first 170km, but once the riders enter Sheffield, the bunch could well be blown to pieces.
The Cote d’Oughtibridge, 1.5km at an average of 9.5 per cent gradient, is perfect for initial attacks, but it is on the now-famous Jenkin Road, 800m at 10.8 per cent, where the stage-winning selection is likely to be made.
A 33 per cent ramp awaits on this sharp and devilishly steep climb, and it could be that only a handful of riders are still at the head of the race over the summit, though more riders should join the lead group on the 5km flat run to the finish, where a reduced-bunch sprint is likely.
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| MONDAY 7th JULY – Start: 10:25 Finish: 15:40 – 16:00 |
WATCH LIVE ONLINE via ITV PLAYER
The UK bids farewell to the Tour after three memorable days with a stage that will take the peloton through London’s Olympic Park and onto what promises to be a spectacular finish at Buckingham Palace.
After the exertions of Sheffield on Sunday, the peloton gets a bit of a breather with a short and flat day that is guaranteed to finish in an exciting bunch sprint on The Mall.
This largely flat stage will be a perfect one for the sprinters to contest, as the peloton heads past the Olympic Park before a finish on The Mall near Buckingham Palace, with Mark Cavendish once again likely to be among the favourites.
The only obstacle the sprint teams will have to contend with on day three is likely to be climatic conditions, either rain on the slippery streets of the capital or wind on the exposed Cambridgeshire roads.
Approaching the finish along the wide boulevard that is Victoria Embankment, the teams will have time and space to get themselves organised and they will need it.
The final kilometre contains two sweeping bends, leaving the riders with just over 500 metres of straight remaining before they see the chequered flag, in what they hope will be a dash for glory on the final stage of the 2014 Grand Depart.
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TOUR DE FRANCE 2014 on ITV & Eurosport – SOTB’s TV GUIDE
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