Yorkshire goes to Paris for big Tour de France unveiling

The 101st Tour starts in Leeds on July 5, features two stages in Yorkshire and a Cambridge to London third stage before transferring across the Channel.

There was good and bad news for Chris Froome, the defending champion, as the Tour returns to the site of his first stage victory, La Planche des Belles Filles, but first negotiates nine sections of cobbles on stage five in northern France.

Details of the opening three stages in the UK were already known prior to confirmation of the remaining 18 days of racing.

Froome’s fears of the “unknown” factor of the cobbles could haunt him ahead of the fifth stage, which marks the 100th anniversary of the First World War.

The 156-kilometre route from Ypres, in Belgium, to Arenberg Porte de Hainaut, in France, will provide a stern early test for the overall contenders on the cobbles which are included in the fabled Paris-Roubaix one-day race.

The 2010 Tour included a spectacular stage which finished in Arenberg and was described as “carnage” by much of the peloton.

The riders will then travel through Champagne country, with a sixth stage to Reims as the race skirts the eastern fringes of France before a 10th stage from Mulhouse to La Planche des Belles Filles.

Froome won on the steep ascent on the second Saturday of the 2012 Tour as Sir Bradley Wiggins took the yellow jersey which he would not relinquish.

Again it is expected the overall contenders will emerge on the climb in 2014. Vincenzo Nibali, Alberto Contador and Nairo Quintana, the 2013 runner-up, are all anticipated to rival Froome’s bid for victory.

The first rest day in Besancon is followed by the Alpine stages, but it is in the Pyrenees, following the second rest day in Carcassonne, where the overall contenders will do further battle, with finishes at Bagneres-de-Luchon, Saint-Lary-Soulan Pla d’Adet and Hautacam.

The overall winner will be determined by the penultimate day’s 54km time-trial between Bergerac and Perigueux - the only race against the clock in the race - before the transfer to Paris.

The race finishes in the French capital on July 27.

Mark Cavendish had won four times in succession on the Champs-Elysees prior to 2013.

Cavendish could enjoy a strong start in Yorkshire.

The opening stage to Harrogate is expected to end in a sprint, giving the Manxman, 25 times a Tour stage winner, the chance to take the race leader’s maillot jaune in his mother’s home town.

The second, hilly stage is from York to Sheffield and could shake up the general classification standings, before another stage which is expected to end in a sprint, the third stage from Cambridge to The Mall in central London.

The Yorkshire start will be the fourth time the race has visited the UK and first since 2007, when a Westminster prologue was followed by a stage through Kent. Previous visits were in 1974 and 1994.

More than 4,000 people attended today’s announcement, including a delegation from Yorkshire and pupils from Carr Manor Community School Specialist Sport College in Leeds who were invited by race organisers the Amaury Sport Organisation having been nominated by the school.

Chief Executive of Welcome to Yorkshire Gary Verity, who gave a presentation in French, said it was “an honour” to represent the region.

He said: “Yorkshire’s will be the greatest Grand Départ in the history of the Tour de France. We will raise the bar for all future hosts with our Cultural Festival 100 days before the race, two stunning stages and a legacy that leaves a cycling imprint on the county which lasts for generations.”

After completing the official signing-in ceremony in front of Leeds Town Hall on Saturday July 5, the first day of the race, the riders will then line up on The Headrow for the ceremonial start.

The initial non-racing rollout will see the peloton ride along The Headrow to Eastgate before turning left onto Regent Street and following the A61 Scott Hall Road and Harrogate Road through Moortown and Alwoodley and on to Harewood.

Turning left at Harewood, Le Tour will enter the Harewood Estate taking in the ‘Capability’ Brown-designed grounds and passing Harewood House.

Upon leaving the estate and turning left onto the A659, the 190-kilometre stage one officially begins, following Otley Road and Arthington Lane through Pool in Wharfedale and on to Otley.

The route then follows the A65 through Ilkley and Skipton, before turning north and heading through the Yorkshire Dales. The final element of the stage sees the route return south passing through Ripon before the finish in Harrogate.

Leader of Leeds City Council Councillor Keith Wakefield said: “The Tour de France Grand Départ will be the biggest event hosted in Leeds and Yorkshire in living memory.

“You can sense the anticipation level rising by the day as people start planning where they will watch from to be able to say ‘I was there’ at this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

“We are immensely thrilled, excited and proud that this global event will be on our doorstep and creating a unique window for the world to see our city, county and country at its best.”

The Grand Départ is expected to attract two million spectators, bringing an estimated £100m boost to the region.

A cultural festival will be held in the days leading up to the Grand Départ which organisers say will “welcome the world” to Yorkshire.

View the route in detail

• Stage 1 - Leeds to Harrogate, Saturday July 5

• Stage 2 - York to Sheffield, Sunday July 6