The Tour de France in Britain 2014

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The world's greatest cycle race is coming to Britain in July
2014

In July 2014, the Tour de France returns to Britain, notably for two days of ups and downs through the hill country of Yorkshire.

Green area: days 1 and2
Orange area : day 3.

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Cambridge, the departure point for day 3.

Text and photos © About-Britain.com except pictures of Swaledale and the Peak District © VisitBritain.
Map by About-Britain.com on open source base from Openstreetmap.org

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The Tour comes to Yorkshire Cambridge and London

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The Tour de France 2014: three days in England

The first three stages of the Tour de France 2014 has been run through the hills and dales of the North of England, and then through the gentle countryside between Cambridge, Essex and London.

The first two days of the 2014 Tour de France shone a massive international spotlight on a region of England that is relatively unknown to visitors from other countries – Yorkshire and the Peak District. Riders will take in two National Parks, the Yorkshire Dales and the Peak District. They saw two of England's great industrial cities Leeds and Sheffield, as well as the small towns of the Pennine valleys, whose textile mills once produced over half of all the world's cloth, and made this region the industrial hub of the world in the 18th and 19th centuries. And they saw the city of York, with its ancient city walls, its old historic quarter, and its great minster, one of Britain's finest mediaeval cathedrals

Day 1 : Leeds - the Yorkshire Dales - Harrogate

Swaledale, in Yorkshire

The 2014 Tour de France began on Saturday July 5th in the city of Leeds, the business capital of Yorkshire. Riders headed north, then west via Otley to Skipton. From here it's north up Wharfedale on the B6160 into the Yorkshire Dales National Park, via Grassington, and then on to Hawes. From there the route rose up and over the Buttertubs Pass (525 metres) and down to Thwaite, in Swaledale. Riders then power down through Swaledale on the B6270 to near Richmond, before continuing south on the A6108 through Leyburn, to the small cathedral city of Ripon, and on to the first day's finishing line in the leafy Yorkshire spa town of Harrogate.

Day 2: York - Pennines - Peak District - Sheffield

The wuthering heights of the Peak District

The second stage of the 2014 Tour de France, on Sunday July 6th, saw riders starting from the historic cathedral city of York. And remarkably for the area, the sun shone all day. After leaving the city, the race headed due west towards the Pennine Hills on the A59, crossing the previous day's route north of Harrogate, and then again just east of Skipton. Next they head south to Keighley, then on up the Worth Valley, with it historic steam railway, to Haworth, a small picturesque town famous as having been the home of the Brontë sisters. From here it was up and over the "wuthering heights" of Haworth Moor and down to Hebden Bridge, one of many small former weaving towns. It was in the valleys of the Pennines and the Peak District that many of the first industrial weaving mills, powered by water from rivers like the Calder, sprang up in the late 18th century.
From Calderdale, riders headed up again onto the fells, to Blackstone Edge reservoir, before turning east to Huddersfield. Then it was south through the industrial heritage area of the Holme Valley, and up to the pass at Holme Moss, 524 metres, at the north end of the Peak District National Park. This is reputed to be one of the wildest spots in England and the climb to Holme Moss one of the hardest cycling climbs in Britain. At Woodhead reservoir, riders then headed east on the A628 Manchester-Sheffield road, to the pass at Woodhead Pass, then had a sting in the tail with a final climb at Jenkin Road, before the sprint to the finish at Sheffield.

► Day 3 - Cambridge to London

On Monday July 8th the third leg of the 2014 Tour de France started in the world-famous university city of Cambridge, for a final day in England and a race to London.
Riders raced through the gently rolling countryside of eastern England, via south Cambridgeshire and Essex; the route took in some pretty towns and villages notably Saffron Walden Finchingfield and Wethersfield, then passed through the outskirts of Braintree and on to Felsted, down to the edge of Chelmsford, east through Roxwell, across to Fyfield, before entering the London area through Epping Forest (sprint area) , following the A104 .
The route passed by the Olympic stadium, down to Silvertown, along through Limehouse, past Limehouse Basin and into London on the A1203. It went several of London's iconic buildings, including Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, then along the Embankment as far as the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, for a finish on the Mall by Buckingham Palace.

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2014

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