Le 101eme Tour de France Parcours #TDF2014

There are 255 days until the 101st edition of the Tour de France. As we already knew it spends the first two day winding its way around Yorkshire, then on the third day travels from Cambridge to London, but today the remainder of the route was announced. Five of the nine new stage start/finish towns are in the UK Leeds, Harrogate, York, Sheffield and Cambridge.

It will go clockwise around France this year meaning that the Alps will come before the Pyrenees.  But before the first rest day they will already have been in a French mountain range as stage ten returns to La Planche de Belle Filles a key stage to both the last two Tour winners. It was here in the Vosges mountains that Bradley Wiggins gained the yellow jersey in 2012 never to give it up and Chris Froome won his first stage in the Tour.
 

The Arenberg Trench

There are nods to history and the classics with Stage 5 which starts 100 years after the start of World War I in Ypres but will finish in Arenberg Port de Hainaut. Arenberg is famous for cycling fans for the Arenberg Trench 2.4km of pavé (cobbles) that can often prove decisive in the Paris Roubaix spring classic. Expect some cobbles to feature on this 9th July stage.

Ypres is the first of the new French stage towns. The next will feature on the stage after the first rest day as the tour travels from Besançon to the rugby mad town of Oyannax in the Jura mountains.

Froome and Porte climb to Risoul in 2013 Critérium

Entering the Alps there will be a new ski resort to visit on stage 14 when Risoul hosts the finish, it featured in the 2013 Critérium du Dauphiné so is known to champion Froome. It will be reached via the
Col du Lautaret making its 41st Tour appearance since 1947 and Col d'Izoard making another of its frequent appearances. Who will add their name to amongst others Fausto Coppi, Louison Bobbet and Eddy Merckx, it will be a lesser name as I expect there will still be a breakaway ahead of the GC contenders at this point of the race.

The Pyrenees, however, should be where this race is decided and they start on stage 16. The Portet d'Aspet and Col de Ares act as appetisers before the infamous Port de Bailes and the long 21.5km descent into the Bagnères-de-Luchon finish. Next day sees the Col du Portillon, Col de Peyresourde and Col de Val Louron-Azet before climbing to the Pla d'Adet making its first appearance since 2005. However, Petresourde and Val Louron-Azet featured in the stage that after Froome gained the yellow jersey last year he found himself having to chase down moves himself without protection. He will be hoping not to find himself in the same sort of position again this year if he is in the Maillot Jaune.

Hautacam in 2000

The final Pyrenean stage only features two mountains but they are the Tourmalet and Hautacam. Tourmalet will be making its 83rd appearance in the Tour and five of the last seven men to reach its summit first have been French. Hautacam was made famous in 2000 for the way that Lance Armstrong played with his rivals before attacking to set up what appeared to be his second win in Le Tour.

The only time trial stage comes on the penultimate day from Bergerac to Périgueux. It is relatively long at 54km that is a time trial specialist has kept relatively close to the pure climbers could turn the race on its head. But this tour is most definitely designed for climbers. Even though there are only 6 mountain stages five of these are summit finishes.

The Yorkshire Grand Depart

As I've written before in the 5th July 2014 the Tour de France will be coming to Yorkshire and the three stages that will start the race in Britain that year will not disappoint.

There is no prologue so the peleton will be straight into a road racing stage when they pull out of Leeds. They will head off North off through Otley, Ilkley and Skipton towards the Yorkshire Dales. Then it will roll back south again, around Ripon and finish in Harrogate. Mark Cavendish's mother lives in Harrogate so that might be a nice way to honour here with a British win on stage one on British soil.

Stage 2 will roll out of York and head for Sheffield. Heading off West to Knaresborough,  then south through Keighley, Brontë country as they pass Haworth and Hebden Bridge. It also takes in Holmfirth famous for The Last of the Summer Wine and contains eights climbs many of them in the last 60km.

Stage three then heads off from Cambridge to London. It will enter London from the East via Epping Forrest, visit the Queen Elizabeth II Park (aka The Olympic Park). The Tour always finishes with some shots of the peleton racing along one famous river, this three day excursion to London will add another. From Stratford it will go along the Embankment past Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey before ending where else in an Olympic themed day but on the Mall. With that route it is likely to follow the end of the London Marathon to make it's way to the finish. So should be a sprinters finish hopefully this time Mark Cavendish will get to the front at the right time, it could well be one win in the year that he equals or beat Eddy Merckx's record of 34 stages wins. He is currently on 23 and when his is the team focus he can manage 5-6 wins a Tour.

Yorkshire man and Sky rider Ben Swift says:

"It looks like a really great route. Yorkshire is going to more than to do the Tour justice. 

"The fans are going to be amazing and if we get a nice bit of sunshine, it is going to be beautiful.

"Growing up in and around Sheffield, that's where I rode my bike, but I never thought that's where the Tour de France would one day be.

"I'm also familiar with the North Yorkshire roads and there are a lot of really interesting climbs up there, too." 

Ey up lad, there be lads on bikes

Tour of Britain on Ilkley Moor

Yeah the 2014 Grand Depart of the Tour de France will come to Yorkshire. The first two days of racing will feature the county on 5 and 6 July before a stage down to London where the third days racing will end.

It is the fourth time that the Tour has visited Britain after trips in 1974 for a stage two loop around Plymouth, 1994 when after stage 3 went from Calais to the Eurotunnel. stage 4 took the Tour from Dover to Brighton and then stage 5 for a loop around Portsmouth, 2007 saw the Grand Depart with a time trail around Hyde Park in London, followed by a stage down to Canterbury which David Miller did his best to try and win.

This time with three days racing on English soil it is the longest sojourn unto British soil in one visit of the races history a reflection of how successful and popular cycling now is in the UK.

Yorkshire had beaten off bids from Florence and Edinburgh, but race officials have not ruled out a visit to Sir Chris Hoy's home city at come point in the near future so the Tour may well be back.

There may be a new verse to On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at  that needs adding, maybe.

Then t'lad in yella cycled past