Tour de Yorkshire 2018: Routes confirmed for Britain's premier race

The 2018 Tour de Yorkshire route has been announced in a ceremony led by race chief Sir Gary Verity. The men's race has been extended to four days for 2018 and will start in Beverley on Thursday 3rd May and finish over 700km later in Leeds on Sunday 6th May.

The route will cover a greater distance than in 2017, and the majority of the parcours will take place on roads that have not been included in the Tour de Yorkshire before.

This page will be undated throughout the announcement

Tour de Yorkshire 2018: key information

Dates: Thursday 3rd May to Sunday 6th May
Grand Depart: Beverley
Finale: Leeds
UK television coverage: TBC
All details open to change

Tour de Yorkshire route 2018: stage-by-stage

Stage 1: Thursday 3rd May: Beverley - Doncaster, 182km

Stage 2: Friday 4th May: Barnsley - Ilkley, 149km

Stage 3: Saturday 5th May: Richmond - Scarborough, 184km

Stage 4: Sunday 6th May: Halifax - Leeds, 189.5km

Stage 4 looks to be the Queen Stage of the race, with Sir Gary Verity naming it the 'Yorkshire terrier' thanks to its six categorised climbs.

Tour de Yorkshire: Live TV schedule 

Both ITV and Eurosport have previously provided live coverage from each stage, as well as a highlights package in the evening, and are expected to do so again

Tour de Yorkshire 2018: Sportive

Date: Sunday 6th May 2018
Location: Leeds
Distances: Long Route, Medium Route, Short Route, Cycletta (women only) 
Enter: letour.yorkshire.com/maserati-tour-de-yorkshire-ride

The Maserati Tour de Yorkshire Ride sportive gives amateurs the chance to ride some of the same roads as the pros, and cross the same finish line ahead of the final stage of the professional men's race.

Head through to page two for all you know to know about the 2018 Tour de Yorkshire Women's Race

The Tour de Yorkshire women's race returns yet again but this time as a multi-day race. The race will double in size from a one day race to a two day stage race for 2018, following the men's race in its expansion. 

The race will start in Beverley on Thursday 3rd May before finishing in Ilkley on Friday 4th May, atop the Cow and Calf climb.

Tour de Yorkshire Women's Race 2018: key information

Dates: Thursday 3rd May to Friday 4th May
Grand Depart: Beverley
Finale: Ilkley
Counties visited: Yorkshire
UK television coverage: TBC
All details open to change

Tour de Yorkshire Women's Race route 2018: stage-by-stage

Stage 1: Thursday 3rd May: Beverley - Doncaster, 132.5km

Stage 2: Friday 4th May: Barnlsey - Ilkley, 124lm

Tour de Yorkshire 2017: All you need to know

It's almost time for the 2017 Tour de Yorkshire, which takes place this weekend from Friday 28th to Sunday 30th April, while the women's event is a single day race on Saturday 29th and the mass participation sportive will be held on the final day of the weekend.

Riders of the sportive will get to ride across the pro finish line just hours before the winner of the men's Tour is decided. The winner of the women's race will have been crowned 24 hours before after a tough day on the roads of Yorkshire.

Coming off the back of the Tour de France's visit to England's largest county back in 2014, the Tour de Yorkshire is a legacy event that has been very popular with roadside crowds over its short two-year history.

The 2017 Tour de Yorkshire will be the race's third edition as it solidifies its place in the professional cycling calendar.

When the Tour of Yorkshire kicks off on Friday 28th April, it will bring elite pro racing to the roads of the UK once again and the success of the race can in part be thanked for the World Championships being awarded to the county for 2019.

After Team Sky won the inaugural Tour with Lars Petter Nordhaug in 2015, it was Direct Energie's Thomas Voeckler who sealed the overall victory last year after what had been a dramatic final stage to an entertaining weekend of racing on the lumpy, grippy roads of Yorkshire.

Below is all you need to know about the exciting three days including the routes, profiles, start list and information about the sportive.

Tour de Yorkshire 2017: Route

Stage 1 - Friday 28th April

Race report: Gallery - Dylan Groenewegen wins crash marred sprint on stage one of Tour de Yorkshire 
Video highlights: Tour de Yorkshire 2017 stage one

This year the race kicks off in the coastal town of Bridlington, before heading inland and tackling three categorised climbs on the way to the finish on Scarborough seafront.

Such a course fits somewhere in the middle of a hilly stage and a sprint stage, and so the outcome - whether its a bunch sprint or a breakaway that succeeds - will likely depend on how the race unfolds on the day.

Stage 2 and Tour de Yorkshire women's race - Saturday 29th April

Race report: Lizzie Deignan wins the women's 2017 Tour de Yorkshire after blistering attack   
Race report: Nacer Bouhanni sprints to victory on stage two of the 2017 Tour de Yorkshire   
Video highlights: Stage two at the 2017 Tour de Yorkshire

Stage two from Tadcaster to Harrogate is a relatively flat affair and features just one climb, the Cote de Lofthouse, so a bunch sprint can be expected to close the day.

The Tour de Yorkshire Women's Race will be held on the same day as the men's stage two, covering the same route from Tadcaster to Harrogate. The women's race starts at 09:10am, before the men follow on later at 14:00. 

Britain's Lizzie Deignan is set to be among the starters in the women's field, coming off the back of three 2nd places in a row at the Ardennes Classics. With the lumps in the route profile preceding a possible sprint finish, the women's race course could suit the local Yorkshirewoman well, too.

Stage 3 - Sunday 30th April

Race report: Well timed move wins Tour de Yorkshire  
Video highlights: Stage three at the 2017 Tour de Yorkshire

The final stage, stage three, from Bradford to Fox Valley, Sheffield, is the real queen stage, and will be where the overall race is decided.

Even if time gaps appeared between riders on stage one, it will be on this 194km stage that the real battle is fought, with eight climbs on the route and a lethal finishing circuit to finish proceedings. 

Tour de Yorkshire: Live TV schedule 

Both ITV and Eurosport are providing live coverage from each stage, as well as a highlights package in the evening. 

Friday 28th April

12.30-17.15, Tour de Yorkshire stage one, ITV4 (Live)
12.45-17.00, Tour de Yorkshire stage one, Eurosport 2 (Live)
19.00-20.00, highlights Tour de Yorkshire stage one, ITV4
22.00-23.00, highlights Tour de Yorkshire stage one, Eurosport 2

Saturday 29th April

08.30-12.00, Tour de Yorkshire women’s race, Eurosport 2 (Live)
09.00-12.45, Tour de Yorkshire women’s race, ITV4 (Live)
14.00-17.15, Tour de Yorkshire stage two, ITV4 (Live)
14.10-17.45, Tour de Yorkshire stage two, Eurosport 2 (Live)
19.00-20.00, highlights Tour de Yorkshire stage two, ITV4
20.15-21.45, highlights Tour de Yorkshire stage two, Eurosport 2

Sunday 20th April

12.30-17.30, Tour de Yorkshire stage three, ITV4 (Live)
16.00-17.00, Tour de Yorkshire stage three, Eurosport 2 (Live)
19.00-20.00, highlights Tour de Yorkshire stage three, ITV4
22.00-23.00, highlights Tour de Yorkshire stage three, Eurosport 2

Tour de Yorkshire 2017: Riders to watch

The relentlessness of Yorkshire's roads should provide a worthy winner, and the nature of the course will also mean that the list of riders that could do well is a big one, making it impossible to pick 'favourites', as such. 

A total of seven WorldTour teams and five ProContinental teams are on the startlist of the men's race, and these will be joined by five UK domestic Continental teams, plus a Great Britain national team, to make a modest, but very competitive, field. 

There are however some riders who can be expected to be animating proceedings, in a field that includes some big-name riders from some of the world's top teams. 

Samuel Sanchez (BMC Racing) and Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) join both previous winners, Petter-Nordhaug (now with Aqua Blue Sport) and Voeckler, on the startlist, all of whom could post a threat in the GC.

Further, the likes of Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis), Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott) and Adam Blythe (Aqua Blue Sport) will be contesting the sprints.

In the women's race, Deignan will be a big draw for the crowds and clearly has the legs to win on her home roads, and a series of recent second places to teammate Anna van der Breggen should make her more determined to win.

Tour de Yorkshire 2017: Teams

The 18 men's and 18 women's teams that will be competing at the 2017 Tour de Yorkshire were revealed well in adavnce of the race. 

The line-up in the men's race is a mix of WorldTour and Pro Continental teams, which usually makes for exciting racing as the lower tier riders head out in the breaks to shake things up.

Team Sky have a good record at the race, taking the overall win in 2015 and only just missing a repeat victory in 2016.

The women's startline will include many teams making their debuts, including Dame Sarah Storey's newly-founded squad.

Full startlist for the men's 2017 Tour de Yorkshire

WorldTour

BMC Racing

GERTS Floris
BOOKWALTER Brent
MOINARD Amaël
QUINZIATO Manuel
ROSSKOPF Joey
SENNI Manuel

Orica-Scott

EWAN Caleb
DOCKER Mitchell
HAYMAN Mathew
KLUGE Roger
CORT NIELSEN Magnus 
TUFT Svein

Dimension Data

PAUWELS Serge
EISEL Bernhard
FRAILE Omar
JANSE VAN RENSBURG Jacques
O'CONNOR Ben
THOMSON Jay Robert
THWAITES Scott
VAN ZYL Johann

Team Sunweb

ANDERSEN Søren Kragh
BAUHAUS Phil
CURVERS Roy
HAMILTON Chris
HOFSTEDE Lennard
LUNKE Sindre Skjøstad 
TIMMER Albert
WALSCHEID Max

Katusha-Alpecin

LAMMERTINK Maurits
BIERMANS Jenthe
BYSTRØM Sven Erik
HALLER Marco
HOLLENSTEIN Reto
MATHIS Marco
PLANCKAERT Baptiste
WÜRTZ SCHMIDT Mads

LottoNL-Jumbo

KRUIJSWIJK Steven
CLEMENT Stef
GROENEWEGEN Dylan
JANSEN Amund Grondahl
KEIZER Martijn
LEEZER Tom
VAN HOECKE Gijs
WAGNER Robert

Team Sky

STANNARD Ian
DIBBEN Jonathan
DOULL Owain
GEOGHEGAN HART Tao
KNEES Christian
ROWE Luke
VAN POPPEL Danny
WIŚNIOWSKI Łukasz

Pro Continental

Aqua Blue Sport

NORDHAUG Lars Petter
BLYTHE Adam
BRAMMEIER Matthew
CHRISTIAN Mark
DUNNE Conor
FENN Andrew
PEARSON Daniel
WARBASSE Larry

Cofidis

BOUHANNI Nacer
BOUHANNI Rayane
CHETOUT Loïc
COUSIN Jérôme
ROSSETTO Stephane
TURGIS Anthony
TURGIS Jimmy
VENTURINI Clément

Direct Energie

VOECKLER Thomas
CORNU Jeremy
GUILLEMOIS Romain
HIVERT Jonathan
HUREL Tony
NAULEAU Bryan
QUEMENEUR Perrig
SICARD Romain

Roompot - Nederlandse Loterij

WEENING Pieter
LOOIJ Andre
MEIJERS Jeroen
REINDERS Elmar
TUSVELD Martijn
VAN DER LIJKE Nick
VAN EMPEL Etienne
VAN GINNEKEN Sjoerd

Delko Marseille Provence KTM

KTM FINETTO Mauro
COMBAUD Romain
EL FARES Julien
FERNANDEZ Delio
HUPOND Thierry
MADRAZO Ángel
PACHER Quentin
SMUKULIS Gatis

Continental

Raleigh GAC

SANZ Enrique
HAVIK Yoeri
KENWAY Adam
MARTIN Fraser
MORA Sebastián
MORENO Adria
PERRY Ryan
ROBBINS Tristan

One Pro Cycling

DOMAGALSKI Karol
HOUSE Kristian
HUNT Joshua
MCCORMICK Hayden
ORAM James
STEWART Thomas
VON HOFF Steele
WILLIAMS Peter

JLT-Condor

DOWNING Russell
BIBBY Ian
FRAME Alex
GULLEN James
JONES Brenton
LAMPIER Steven
MOSES Thomas
SLATER Alistair

Madison Genesis

HOLMES Matthew
CRONSHAW Mathew
GUNMAN Taylor
HANDLEY Richard
LEWIS Gruffudd
MCEVOY Jonathan
ROWSELL Erick
SWIFT Connor

Bike Channel Canyon

GARDIAS Dexter
LOWSLEY WILLIAMS James
OPIE Chris 
PARTRIDGE Rob
PULLAR Jack
STEDMAN Max
TANFIELD Harry
WOMERSLEY Jake

Great Britain

DAVIES Scott
CULLAIGH Gabriel
HARTLEY Adam
HENNESY Jacob
KNOX James
LAWLESS Christopher
WALKER Joey
WILLIAMS Stephen

Tour de Yorkshire 2017: Sportive

Date: Sunday 30th April 2017
Location: Fox Valley, Sheffield
Distances: Long Route - 100km, Medium Route - 75km, Short Route - 50km, Cycletta (women only) - 50km
Enter: letour.yorkshire.com/maserati-tour-de-yorkshire-ride

The Tour de Yorkshire Ride sportive gives amateurs the chance to ride some of the same roads as the pros, and cross the same finish line ahead of the final stage of the professional men's race.