Tour De France 2014 Reveals UK Route
The Tour de France 2014 has revealed the routes of the stages set to launch the 101st edition of the annual race, with one stage set to visit the Olympic Park before ending on the Mall, following two opening stages around Yorkshire.
The cycling action will begin on 5th July when the Grand Depart takes place in Leeds, with the stage taking in the Yorkshire Dales and finishing in Harrogate.
Stage two begins in York, heading west through Keighley, Huddersfield and Holmfirth – home of BBC sitcom Last Of The Summer Wine – en-route to Sheffield.
Stage three will start in Cambridge and head to London via Epping Forest and complete a circuit of the Olympic Park before finishing on the Mall, where the 2012 Olympic road race ended.
The rest of the route is yet be to revealed, however stage four will see the Tour head to France before reaching its usual conclusion, after three weeks of racing, on the Champs Elysees in Paris.
The race last visited the UK in 2007, when London hosted the prologue and the opening stage.
Tour director Christian Prudhomme told BBC Sport: ‘Since the resounding success of the Grand Depart in London in 2007, we were very keen to return to the United Kingdom.’
In 2012, Team Sky rider Sir Bradley Wiggins became the country’s first man to win the overall event in July.
The UK region of Yorkshire defeated challenges from Florence and Edinburgh to host the prestigious event.
‘Yorkshire is a region of outstanding beauty, with breathtaking landscapes whose terrains offer both sprinters and attackers the opportunity to express themselves,’ added Prudhomme.
