Christian Prudhomme & Gary Verity chat post TdY
Christian Prudhomme (ASO) and Gary Verity (Welcome to Yorkshire) popped in for a chat with the media teams after the final stage of the inaugural Tour de Yorkshire.
Lars-Petter Nordhaug TdY 2015 Winner
Lars-Petter Nordhaug Team SkyTour de Yorkshire 2015 by Cycling Shorts
Winners press conference at the inaugural Tour de Yorkshire, with Team Sky’s Lars-Petter Nordhaug.
Winners press conference at the inaugural Tour de Yorkshire, with Team Sky’s Lars-Petter Nordhaug.
Over a million turn out for first ever Tour de Yorkshire
Final GC podium for 2015 Tour de Yorkshire LtoR: Voeckler, Nordhaug & Sanchez – Image ©wwwchrismaher.co.uk | CyclingShorts.cc
The first ever Tour de Yorkshire has ridden itself into the history books after a momentous three days of racing. One and a half million fans at the roadside and TV audiences in more than 150 countries have witnessed some of Yorkshire’s finest scenery, with crowds at key points in the race comparable with the Tour de France.
Initial spectator figures from police and race organisers indicate that on Stage One, 250,000 people watched by the roadside, followed by 450,000 on Stage Two and 750,000 on Stage Three.
A fantastically strong field lined up for the first stage of the men’s race in Bridlington on Friday 1 May, among them World Champions and Olympians and 13 of Yorkshire’s finest riders. Sir Bradley Wiggins drew huge crowds with his Team Wiggins team mates, as did Giant-Aplecin’s Marcel Kittel, Team Europcar’s Thomas Voeckler and Yorkshiremen Ed Clancy of JLT Condor and Team Sky’s Ben Swift.
Sadly by Stage Two the race had lost two of the main protagonists as Ben Swift and Marcel Kittel were forced to retire but Yorkshire’s towns and villages showed no sign of dimming enthusiasm for the race with crowds growing each day. Stage Three proved a hard fought, thrilling day of racing for the international peloton and spectators who lined the route.
The three day men’s race was joined by an 80km women’s race in York on Saturday 2 May, and crowds lined the circuit to see a thrilling sprint finish in what riders called a showcase event for female racing in the UK.
In scenes reminiscent of last year’s Grand Départ, painted bikes, children’s artwork and hundreds of miles of bunting could be seen across Yorkshire weeks ahead of the race. On race day the crowds matched the excitement of the 2014 Tour de France and joint organisers the ASO and Welcome to Yorkshire are already looking ahead to the 2016 race.
Gary Verity, Chief Executive of Welcome to Yorkshire said “Once again we’ve seen staggering crowds provide a rousing welcome for these incredible riders. I salute each of the 144 riders in the men’s race and 98 in the women’s, and the 6,000 who took on the sportive. We thank the people of Yorkshire and the riders, the crowds, the Tour Makers, the ASO and our team at Welcome to Yorkshire should be immensely proud of the weekend’s achievements.”
Christian Prudhomme, Director of the Tour de France (ASO), said: “It was an emotional return to Yorkshire, who did of course put on the grandest of all the grand Départs last year. This was again a special moment, an historic three days and a great advert for cycling and the passio and the heart that Yorkshire has for the sport.”
The race is a joint venture between Welcome to Yorkshire and ASO, with the backing of British Cycling – supported and delivered in partnership in 2015 with North Yorkshire County Council, East Riding Council, Selby District Council, Scarborough Borough Council, City of York Council, Wakefield Council and Leeds City Council.
Key sponsors include Yorkshire Bank, P&O Ferries, Dimension Data and JCT 600 as official car supplier.
The Tour de Yorkshire will return in May next year on a new route with new start and finish towns.
Tour de Yorkshire – Stage 2
Stage 2 TdY Finish – Image ©www.chrismaher.co.uk | CyclingShorts.cc
The end of stage one of the tour resulted in a number of big names getting off the bike. Ben Swift with a right shoulder trauma, young Irish rider Eddie Dunbar sustaining the same injury but on his left side, both riders were casualties in the crash at the front of the peloton. We also saw the early retirement of Marcel Kittel who had only just returned from illness.
Stage 2 TdY Final Lap – Image ©www.chrismaher.co.uk | CyclingShorts.cc
Stage two started with a large group going clear early in the day, with some quality riders involved including Bert de Backer (Giant-Alpecin), Andy Tennant (Team Wiggins), Mark McNally (Madison-Genesis) and Matt Brammeier (MTN-Qhubeka). The group built up a five minute lead which they held for quite some time. The job of reeling them in was left to the team of the GC leader Lars-Petter Nordhaug. Team Sky got to work. The lead group fragmented, the remains; McNally and De Backer put in an extra effort to stay away as the race arrived on the outskirts of York for the two lap finish. The attempt was looking successful until the final few kilometres of the last lap.
The pace lifted as Team Sky gained allies on the front of the peloton; IAM Cycling, NFTO, Roompot-Orange Peloton and One Pro Cycling, the race started to look more like an angry swarm of bees, as the riders were strung out behind the four teams.
Stage 2 TdY Podium – Image ©www.chrismaher.co.uk | CyclingShorts.cc
In the meantime De Backer was showing his strength and he managed to shake off McNally. With just a few kilos to go it was looking less like he would manage a lone arrival at the finish, the peloton was closing in fast. As the the race reached the 2km marker the peloton were on his tail, they could smell a bunch sprint finish. Loic Chetout (Cofidis) attacked and pulled his way up to De Backer, this small victory was short-lived as the peloton came charging past at the Flame Rouge.
Greg van Avermaet had a dig and gapped the peloton for a moment but the final moments came down to Pelucchi and Hofland battling it out for the win. The Team LottoNL-Jumbo rider just pipped Pelucchi to the post. All the hard work of Team LottoNL-Jumbo this season finally paid off, their first win of the year!
The first British rider to reach the line in the sprint was Russ Downing (Cult Energy Pro Cycling) – a Yorkshireman too!
No change overall in the standings as Lars-Petter Nordhaug finished in the bunch.
Tour de Yorkshire 2015: stage two results
1) Moreno Hofland (NED) – Team LottoNL-Jumbo – 3.57.58hrs
2) Matteo Pelucchi (ITA) – IAM Cycling – ST
3) Roman Sinkeldam (NED) – Giant-Alpecin
4) Jempy Drucker (NED) – BMC Racing
5) Dylan Groenewegen (NED) – Roompot Orange Peloton
6) Andre Looij (NED) – Roompot Orange Peloton
7) Russ Downing (GBR) – Cult Energy Pro Cycling
8) Andreas Stauff (GER) – MTN-Qhubeka
9) Harry Tanfield (GBR) – Condor-JLT
10) Pieter Vanspeybrouck (BEL) – Topsport-Vlaanderen Baloise
General classification
1) Lars-Petter Nordhaug (NOR) – Team Sky – 8.20.26hrs
2) Samuel Sanchez (ESP) – BMC Racing +10”
3) Thomas Voeckler (FRA) – Team Europcar – ST
4) Stephane Rossetto (FRA) – Cofidis +12”
5) Philip Deignan (IRL) – Team Sky +16”
6) Anthony Turgis (FRA) – Cofidis +1.18
7) Greg van Avermaet (BEL) – BMC Racing +1.20
8) Erick Rowsell (GBR) – Madison-Genesis – ST
9) Ben Hermans (BEL) – BMC Racing +1.23
10) Richard Handley (GBR) – JLT-Condor +1.26
Tour de Yorkshire Stage 2 Image Gallery
All images ©www.chrismaher.co.uk | CyclingShorts.cc
Tour De Yorkshire 2015 | Selby to York – Stage 2
Stage 2 Classification:
1) Moreno Hofland – Team Lotto NL Jumbo
2) Matteo Pelucchi – IAM Cycling
3) Ramon Sinkeldam – Team Giant Alpecin
Overall Classification:
1) Lars-Petter Nordhaug – Team Sky
2) Samuel Sanchez – BMC
3) Thomas Voeckler – Europcar
Blue Jersey
Lars-Petter Nordhaug – Team Sky
Green Jersey
Lars-Petter Nordhaug – Team Sky
Pink Jersey
Perrig Quemeneur – Europcar
Grey Jersey
Mark McNally – Madison Genesis
Tour de Yorkshire 2015 – Stage 1
Being Yorkshire born and bred, I may be slightly biased, but this is the most beautiful and definitely the best county in the UK… All four corners of the county will be putting on a show for the inaugural Tour de Yorkshire this weekend. We can look forward to some of the best British and international cycling talent taking to the roads over three challenging stages. Today the cycling kicked off with an outing from Bridlington to Scarborough.
Kittel less than happy with Cote de Dalby Forest – Image ©www.chrismaher.co.uk | CyclingShorts.cc
The stage got underway in seaside town of Bridlington the route passed through spectacular coastal scenery and the iconic North York Moors landscapes with no less than five King of the Mountains (KoM) peaks and two sprint opportunities along the course.
The teams rode along the Flamborough Head Heritage Coast before turning away from the coast into the North York Moors National Park, through Dalby Forest hitting the first KoM of the day at the Cote de Dalby Forest and this first test seemed to take it’s toll on some of the riders. Sprinter Marcel Kittel became unhitched from the main peloton and found himself in a small group as he zipped up his top to descend the climb. His face said it all, but he wasn’t the only rider disliking the Yorkshire hills.
Team Sky were dominant from early on in the race after reeling in a breakaway that held a lead of 3 minutes. Sky controlled the peloton until they hit the recently drizzled roads of Egton and Grosmont. The Team Sky train appeared not to adjust their descending style to match the wet conditions and slid across the road at the start of the drop.
In doing so they took out a number of other teams riders behind them. Ben Swift of Team Sky went down heavily and subsequently had to retire from the race. The riding became a little more tentative as teams got themselves back on each others wheels. The lack of race radio did mean riders had to be more team aware, though none of the riders up front would have known of the retirements behind them. Team Sky were now down to 4 riders on the front of the peloton and less able to control the situation. One rider took advantage of the chaos at the front, on the penultimate slope of the day; the Cote de Briggswath, the Europcar rider Perrig Quemeneur went out on his own and made the most of it by mopping us some more sprint points.
The race took a spectacular journey back to the coast at Whitby. By the time they reached Robin Hood’s Bay Quemeneur had been caught and a sizeable group of around 15 riders including; Voeckler, Sanchez and two Team Sky riders. Steve Cummings got caught out by the break and furiously tried to get up to them to no avail. Over the crest of the Cote de Robin Hood’s Bay 15 had been whittled down to 5 riders with a lead of over 30 seconds, they had over a minute back to the peloton. The splinter group contained some dangerous riders; Thomas Voeckler (Europcar), Samuel Sanchez (BMC Racing Team), Stephane Rossato (Cofidis Solutions Credits), Philip Diegnan & Lars-Petter Nordhaug (both Team Sky). Initially the two French riders (Voeckler and Rossato) seemed to work together to test and attempt to break the Sky riders.
Lars-Petter Nordhaug wins Stage 1 of the Tour de Yorkshire 2015 – Image ©www.chrismaher.co.uk | CyclingShorts.cc
Image ©www.chrismaher.co.uk | CyclingShorts.cc
The race ended in the ultimate sprint finish on the seafront at Scarborough, the five riders went down to the line with Team Sky using team tactics with a one-two attack. Rossetto showed he had more in the tank starting the sprint lead out, he was overtaken by Nordhaug with Voeckler on his tail. A thrilling end to what looks to be an unpredictable Tour.
Perrig Quemeneur took the Pink Climbers Jersey and the Grey Most Aggressive Rider which is voted for by the public via Twitter, unfortunately for Eddie Dunbar he won the vote but was caught up in the crash and had to retire. So the jersey passed to Quemeneur.
Results after Stage 1
1.NOR NORDHAUG Lars-Petter 16 TEAM SKY 04h 22′ 28”
2.FRA VOECKLER Thomas 71 TEAM EUROPCAR 04h 22′ 32”+ 00′ 04”
3.FRA ROSSETTO Stéphane 97 COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS 04h 22′ 34”+ 00′ 06”
4.ESP SANCHEZ Samuel 36 BMC RACING TEAM 04h 22′ 38”+ 00′ 10”
5.IRL DEIGNAN Philip 13 TEAM SKY 04h 22′ 38”+ 00′ 10”
6.FRA TURGIS Anthony 98 COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS 04h 23′ 46”+ 01′ 18”
7.BEL VAN AVERMAET Greg 31 BMC RACING TEAM 04h 23′ 48”+ 01′ 20”
8.GBR ROWSELL Erick 146 MADISON GENESIS 04h 23′ 48”+ 01′ 20”
9.GBR HANDLEY Richard 135 JLT CONDOR 04h 23′ 48”+ 01′ 20”
10.NED DUYN Huub 103 ROOMPOT ORANJE PELOTON 04h 23′ 48”+ 01′ 20”
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