Two million spectators cheer on Tour de Yorkshire

Crowds packed the route Credit: SWPIX.com

More than two million spectators cheered on this year’s Tour de Yorkshire. The county has been referred to as the 'heartland of cycling' by Tour de France boss Christian Prudhomme.

Cyclists and organisers say they have been overwhelmed by the stunning support for the race which winner Thomas Voeckler said “makes me want to come back next year!” and compared it to racing in a stage of Tour de France.

Nathan Haas from Team Dimension Data who won the King of the Mountains jersey, called for the Tour de Yorkshire to be to grow bigger than a 2:1 classification and thanked the Tour de Yorkshire organisers and the “great crowds”.

The race saw an exciting start in Middlesbrough as riders faced the toughest stage yet over 198km. The peloton raced through Great Ayton and Stokesley which were packed with crowds before moving down through Northallerton, Thirsk which were full of cheering spectators.

Sutton Bank was the first of six categorised climbs and saw crowds as big as any mountain stage on the Tour de France.

The town centre was full in Helmsley and into the North York Moors National Park with a steam train lined up at Grosmont as the peloton passed the North Yorkshire Moors Railway Station.

More spectators lined the route at Robin Hood’s Bay and snaked through Whitby before the riders came in to Scarborough along the sweep of South Bay before a final sprint on Royal Albert Drive in North Bay to a heaving crowd.

The final stage promised to test the rider’s legs and with six categorised climbs and it lived up to the brutal profile. The day saw many attacks with the pace never wavering, and there were some especially impressive turns put in by young British riders.

The race came down to a game of cat and mouse from 5km to go, with Nicolas Roche (Team Sky) and Thomas Voeckler (Direct Energie) storming into Scarborough to incredible levels of noise and support from the crowds. With less than 1km to go, Voeckler made a move and outsprinted Roche to take the win, securing him the overall title in the process.

The race’s overall top ten included riders from nine different countries.

  • 1 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Direct Energie 13:05:16

  • 2 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky 0:00:06

  • 3 Anthony Turgis (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Crédits 0:00:16

  • 4 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica GreenEDGE 0:00:17

  • 5 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNL - Jumbo 0:00:21

  • 6 Lars Petter Nordhaug (Nor) Team Sky 0:00:52

  • 7 Gianni Moscon(Ita) Team Sky 0:00:53

  • 8 Nikias Arndt (Den) Team Giant - Alpecin 0:01:13

  • 9 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Dimension Data 0:01:20

  • 10 Dion Smith (NZl) One pro Cycling 0:01:21