Tour De Yorkshire 2015: Dates, Route Info, Live Stream, Stage-by-Stage Preview
Road cycling returns to the UK in full force this weekend with the first Tour de Yorkshire.
The three-stage event runs from Friday, May 1 through to Sunday, May 3 and takes the riders on a whistle-stop tour through the picturesque countryside and coastal scenery of Yorkshire.
Some of the biggest names in road cycling are set to feature, with Sir Bradley Wiggins riding for his eponymous Team Wiggins, two-time Olympic track champion Ed Clancy riding for JLT-Condor and Marcel Kittel riding for Giant-Alpecin, while Dame Sarah Storey is the standout competitor in the women's race.
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Here's a video run-through of the course and all the info you need:
Where: Starts in Bridlington and ends in Leeds
When: Friday, May 1 through Sunday, May 3
Watch: ITV4, Eurosport
To find out when and where to see the riders in person, see this schedule courtesy of Andrew Jackson of the Manchester Evening News.
| Stage | Date | Course | Distance |
| 1 | Friday, May 1 | Bridlington - Scarborough | 174 km |
| 2 | Saturday, May 2 | Selby - York | 174 km |
| 3 | Sunday, May 3 | Wakefield - Leeds | 167 km |
Stage 1
Pictures of the routes may be found here:
Stage 1 begins in the seaside town of Bridlington and takes the riders through a series of climbs, via the iconic North York Moors, Dalby Forest and Whitby before doubling back and heading down the coast past Robin Hood's Bay, per the tour's official website.
The stage concludes with a sprint finish along the Scarborough seafront.
German sprinter Kittel will be fancied for stages one and two, despite struggling for form in 2015 (h/t Press Association via The Guardian).
Stage 2
Stage 2 sees the riders set off from Selby Abbey and make their way through the Yorkshire Wolds, Beverley and on to Stamford Bridge.
The stage culminates in a circuit of the historic city of York, followed by another high-octane sprint finish.
Stage 3
In Stage 3, the peloton will return to a familiar route, hitting some of the roads raced in the 2014 Yorkshire Grand Depart of the Tour de France, albeit in reverse.
Starting in Wakefield, the peloton will move south to Barnsley, then on to Holmfirth, Ripponden and the Cragg Vale. Where the Cragg Vale was the country's longest continual climb in the Tour de France, it now becomes the longest continual descent.
The riders will then move through Hebden, Bridge, Oxenhope and Haworth before a steep climb and finally finishing in Roundhay Park in Leeds.
Team Sky's Ben Swift has examined the course and feels it will prove a challenge:
What Can We Expect from Bradley Wiggins?
Those expecting a Wiggins masterclass may be somewhat disappointed, as the 35-year-old is racing with his new team for the first time, having departed Team Sky on April 12.
The 2012 Tour de France winner will be using the Tour de Yorkshire as an opportunity to practice with his new team and learn to race as a unit while transitioning from the long-distance racing of Team Sky to the shorter road and track work needed before the Olympics in Rio next year, per The Guardian's William Fotheringham.
Team Wiggins' directeur sportif Simon Cope admitted, via Fotheringham: "We have no real expectations of Brad for this weekend, I haven't spoken to him yet to see what he wants to do."
Cope also added that Stages 1 and 3 would probably prove too tough to offer much to his team:
"Looking at the parcours, it's about survival. It’s pretty vicious. Stage one [Bridlington-Scarborough] is very technical in parts, with some horrible little climbs, stage two [Selby-York] will be OK unless it's windy, but the last stage [Wakefield-Leeds] is horrendous. I can see a lot of riders getting off.
"
With this in mind, spectators should enjoy simply getting to see the cycling legend in action rather than hoping to see the success to which Wiggins is so accustomed.
Either way, the Tour de Yorkshire will likely be a resounding success as an event, and it will keep Britain's love affair with cycling going strong.
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