Pre Tour de Yorkshire Press Conference

 

L-R: Christian Prudhomme, Lucy Garner, Caleb Ewan, Lars-Petter Nordhaug, Dani King & Sir Gary Verity.

L-R: Christian Prudhomme, Lucy Garner, Caleb Ewan, Lars-Petter Nordhaug, Dani King & Sir Gary Verity.

 

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Saturday the Men’s and Women’s Stages of Champions take place.

Pre Race Press Conference for the 2016 Tour de Yorkshire

28 April 2016

Anthony McCrossan welcomes the press on the eve of the Tour de Yorkshire 2016 at the Yorkshire Air Museum in Elvington, before introducing Welcome to Yorkshire CEO Sir Gary Verity and A.S.O. Director of Cycling Christian Prudhomme.

Joining them on stage, last years defending champion, winning from start to finish, Lars-Petter Nordhaug of Team Sky and Orica Green-EDGE’s sensational young sprinter Caleb Ewan, making his debut, Olympic Champion, World Champion and European Champion Wiggle High5’s Dani King, and twice Junior World Champion Lucy Garner as the Tour readies itself for the second edition, 29th April to 01st May.

Pre Race Press Conference for the 2016 Tour de Yorkshire

28 April 2016

Anthony McCrossan welcomes the press on the eve of the Tour de Yorkshire 2016 at the Yorkshire Air Museum in Elvington, before introducing Welcome to Yorkshire CEO Sir Gary Verity and A.S.O. Director of Cycling Christian Prudhomme.

Joining them on stage, last years defending champion, winning from start to finish, Lars-Petter Nordhaug of Team Sky and Orica Green-EDGE’s sensational young sprinter Caleb Ewan, making his debut, Olympic Champion, World Champion and European Champion Wiggle High5’s Dani King, and twice Junior World Champion Lucy Garner as the Tour readies itself for the second edition, 29th April to 01st May.

Anthony McCrossan: “This evening the Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour Down Under will sign an agreement to promote each other races across each others territories.”

Sir Gary Verity: The significance of stage two. “Linking Otley, near Leeds, home to our latest world champion Lizzie Armitstead with Doncaster where we pass through Harworth, just to the south, the home of Tom Simpson, our first world Champion.”

“One of the big changes from this year to last is the revolution in women’s cycling.”

 

 

Christian Prudhomme applauds 2015 Winner, Lars-Petter Nordhaug, Team Sky.

Christian Prudhomme applauds 2015 Winner, Lars-Petter Nordhaug, Team Sky.

Christian Prudhomme: “The passion that people from Yorkshire have for cycling is just unbelievable. Huge crowds we saw for the Tour de France! One year after, we thought impossible to have the same for the first edition of the Tour de Yorkshire. But yes, huge crowds again.”

“The second edition of the Tour de Yorkshire is one step forward again. On Saturday we have women and men the same distance, the same media coverage. We don’t know today what Saturday will mean for the future of cycling.”   

Lars-Petter Nordhaug: “We hope to win. We are the biggest team here. We really want to make the race.”

Sir Gary Verity welcomes Caleb Ewan (Orica GreenEDGE) to the Tour de Yorkshire.

Sir Gary Verity welcomes Caleb Ewan (Orica GreenEDGE) to the Tour de Yorkshire.

Caleb Ewan: “I don’t really know how my form is now.” Coming out of a block of training. “I’ve not raced for six weeks.” Calab is hoping to improve towards the end of the race. Although the first stage is billed as a sprinters stage. “It’s not a straight forward sprint as I thought it would be”. Referring to the un-categorised climb on the Settle finish loop!

Dani King: Saturday’s Asda Women’s Race. “I’m really excited to ride here in Yorkshire, we did a reccy today and there were school kids on the side of the road screaming to cheer us.” “I feel proud that Britain is leading the way with the same media coverage.” “It’s amazing the step forward for women’s cycling and I think it’s only going to go further after this race.”

Lucy Garner: Billed also as a sprint finish for the women’s race. “It’s not flat! It’s definitely rolling. I think the weathers going to play a roll in the race, setting off early in the morning”.

 

 

 

Tour de Yorkshire – Stage 2

Stage 2 TdY Finish - Image ©www.chrismaher.co.uk | CyclingShorts.cc

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 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

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 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.

Image ©www.chrismaher.co.uk | CyclingShorts.cc

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

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

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”

jerseys

 

Tour de Yorkshire 2015 – Stage 1 Image Gallery

Image ©www.chrismaher.co.uk | CyclingShorts.cc

 

Tour De Yorkshire 2015 | Scarborough to Bridlington – Stage 1
Stage Classification.
1) Lars-Petter Nordhaug – Team Sky
2) Thomas Voeckler – Europcar
3) Stephane Rossetto – Cofidis
4) Samuel Sanchez – BMC
5) Philip Diegnan – Team Sky

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