The 2017 Tour de Yorkshire will finish with the toughest stage in the race’s brief history, it was announced today.
The third edition of the race will begin on April 28 with a 173km stage from Bridlington to Scarborough’s North Bay. A day later, the peloton will tackle a 122.5km stage from Tadcaster to Harrogate – hours after the women’s race uses the same route. The stage will finish on Parliament Street in Harrogate – the spot where Mark Cavendish crashed out of the opening stage of the 2014 Tour.
The final stage will start in central Bradford with a tough finishing circuit around the Fox Valley retail park just north of Sheffield. Nicknamed the “Yorkshire Terrier” by the race organiser, this 194.5km stage features eight classified climbs (four of which are in the final 20km) with over 3,000m of climbing.
The Tour de Yorkshire was first held in 2015 building on the back of the county’s hosting of the 2014 Tour de France Grand Dèpart. The first edition of the men’s race was won by Lars Petter Nordhaug, while Thomas Voeckler was victorious in 2016.
