Town gearing up for Tour de Yorkshire spectacle
Yorkshire’s finest ready to tackle 181km stage that finishes in Scarborough
Ben Swift and Tom Pidcock – two of Yorkshire’s highestprofile riders - have been named in the Great Britain Cycling Team for this week’s Tour de Yorkshire.
Swift usually rides for the UAE Team Emirates squad but will represent his national team in his home race that visits Scarborough on Saturday.
The 30-year-old from Rotherham is a former world track champion who has also triumphed at the Tours of California, Romandie and Poland, as well as the Tour Down Under, during his 10 seasons as a pro.
He has not competed in Yorkshire since crashing on the first stage of the 2015 edition and will be making his return to action in this year’s race after suffering a nondisplaced fracture of his vertebrae at the prestigious Tour of Flanders earlier this month.
Pidcock meanwhile, commonly competes for Team Wiggins, and is considered one of the hottest prospects in the sport.
The 18-year-old from Leeds held National, European and World junior Cyclo-cross titles before winning the junior time trial at the 2017 UCI Road World Championships.
Another success at last year’s junior Paris-Roubaix confirmed his all-round credentials before he turned professional on the road at the start of this year.
Welcome to Yorkshire Chief Executive Sir Gary Verity is looking forward to seeing the duo on the start line and believes the 2018 Tour de Yorkshire is shaping up to be the biggest and best one yet.
He said: “One of the key principles of the Tour de Yorkshire is that it allows young British talent to compete alongside the best riders in the world.
“That is no better personified by having Tom and Ben in our race.
“Tom is a true rising star while Ben is one of the most experienced riders in the peloton.
“Ben has competed at the very highest level for the last 10 years and it is tremendous that young, British riders get to ride alongside the likes of him, Greg Van Avermaet and Mark Cavendish at the Tour de Yorkshire.
“We are very pleased with the start list we’re assembling for this year’s race and the action is sure to be spectacular.”
Day three of the Tour de Yorkshire sweeps into Scarborough for yet another iconic stage sprint finish at the North Bay.
The challenging 181km route starts in Richmond and sees riders travel through Bedale, Northallerton, Thirsk, Helmsley, Kirkbymoorside and Pickering before looping into Scarborough via Snainton East Ayton.
Riders then travel through Hackness, Silpho and Suffield before wheeling into Scalby at around 4.25pm.
The race then heads out to Filey via Irton, Crossgates, Cayton, Folkton and Muston before returning into town for the big finish at North Bay, estimated around 5.26pm.
Full information on routes, timings, teams and all other information can be found via https://letour.yorkshire.com/ the-race/.