THE START OF the 2014 Tour de France will begin in Yorkshire, organisers of cycling’s most prestigious and gruelling race announced today.
“The Tour de France 2014 Grand Départ will take place in Yorkshire… !!!” they said on @tourdefrance, their official account on Twitter, linking to a photograph of a mountain biker taking in the view of the county’s hills.
Yorkshire, which has some of England’s most scenic countryside as well as former industrial towns such as Leeds and Bradford, has been lobbying intensely to host the start of the race.
Tour organisers Amaury Sports Organisation selected Yorkshire over a separate bid from Edinburgh, although the Scottish capital remains in the running to host a future overseas start. Full route details will be announced next month but the race will start in Leeds on July 5, 2014 before a stage finish in London.
Tour director Christian Prudhomme said: “Since the resounding success of the Grand Depart in London in 2007, we were very keen to return to the United Kingdom.
“Bradley Wiggins’ historical victory last July and the enormous crowds that followed the cycling events in the streets of London during the Olympic Games encouraged us to go back earlier than we had initially planned.
“Yorkshire is a region of outstanding beauty, with breathtaking landscapes whose terrains offer both sprinters and attackers the opportunity to express themselves.
“We have encountered a phenomenal desire from the Yorkshire team to welcome the Tour de France and have no doubt that passion and support will be particularly evident for the Grand Depart of the Tour de France 2014.”
Some one million people lined the streets when the Tour last crossed the Channel from France five years ago, when the prologue was held in London and a stage from the British capital to the southeastern city of Canterbury.
Before that, the race visited in 1974 and 1994, both times in and around the southern English coast, which is the closest part of Britain to mainland Europe.
Next year’s race — the 100th edition — starts for the first time on the Mediterranean island of Corsica. Defending champion Wiggins this year became the first Briton to win the Tour.
