A DAY OF FIRSTS
TOUR DE YORKSHIRE BREAKS BARRIERS:
We want to bring the Vuelta here and they’re happy to talk. Sir Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire.
IT WAS a day of firsts on a sporting event that is now becoming part of the Yorkshire summer.
A first visit to Barnsley town centre for the Tour de Yorkshire. A first second stage for the women’s professional peloton as the county’s premier sporting event continues to play a pioneering role in the narrowing of the gender divide in sport.
And a first ever summit finish at the Tour de Yorkshire, one that on this evidence will become something of a repeat occurrence. Because while any rider worth their salt around these parts will know the exposed, rugged terrain of the Cow and Calf rocks like the back of their hands, the world’s best riders were unfamiliar with it.
And if they had no clue, nor did the millions of television viewers who will have watched in awe at the drama this iconic rock formation produced.
Cycling in Yorkshire since the Grand Départ of the 2014 Tour de France has already thrown up countless breathtaking images and spine-tingling moments of sheer drama. Think Parliament Street in Harrogate; Côte de Blubberhouses in 2014. But put the Cow and Calf on Ilkley Moor right at the very top of that list. What a challenge it gave the cyclists and what entertainment it provided the fans who packed the natural amphitheatre of the moorland to watch the drama unfold.
Lone raiders straining every sinew to crest the hilltop first as the stunning Yorkshire scenery fell away behind them was quite a sight.
And how the crowds appreciated their champions and cheered those who brought up the rear; first in low cloud for the women’s race at lunchtime, and then in sunshine at teatime as the men took their turn to summit one of Yorkshire’s infamous climbs; one all amateurs of a White Rose persuasion have known about for decades, and one now given full exposure by the biggest free-towatch sporting spectacle in the Broad Acres.
Earlier, the women’s and men’s pelotons had weaved their way through more uncharted territory in Rotherham, through the picture postcard village of Wentworth before a sprint in Scholes and an outof-the-saddle climb up the narrow shoot of Old Pool Bank.
More White Rose flags being fluttered by schoolchildren and grandparents, more bunting hung from overlooking windows, more reasons for come together. And more memories created along the way – of which the Cow and Calf on the tops of Ilkley will take some beating, particular for those who got across the line first yesterday.
Megan Guarnier, from America, produced a climbing masterclass on her birthday on way to the famous landmark to win the women’s race, finishing 14 seconds ahead of Belarusian Alena Amialiusik with Great Britain’s Dani Rowe just three seconds further behind. In the men’s race Magnus Cort Nielsen won the second stage.
Yorkshire cycling chiefs, meanwhile, are exploring the possibility of bringing the Tour of Spain – La Vuelta a Espana – to the region.
Discussions have begun between Welcome to Yorkshire chief executive Sir Gary Verity and La Vuelta race director Javier Guillén about hosting the race’s opening stages in the White Rose county as early as 2021. “We want to bring the Vuelta here and they’re happy to have that conversation,” said Sir Gary, who was instrumental in securing the 2019 UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire and remains confident the Tour de France will return in the next few years.
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