Photo courtesy of Tour de Yorkshire
Yorkshire has been selected to host the 2019 World Championships. Following on from the success of the Grand Depart in 2014 which saw millions of spectators line the county’s roads, UCI president Brian Cookson declared that, “Yorkshire has proved it is a fitting host for road cycling’s leading annual event. We are sure there will be world-class crowds to match.”
The news will be popular among riders as well as spectators. At the moment the World Championships are being held in Doha in temperatures of up to 40 degrees centigrade. Dutch rider Anouska Koster crashed earlier in the week due the extreme temperatures while US rider Chloe Dygers was seen being violently sick. Tom Dumoulin has spoken about the lack of atmosphere with small numbers of spectators.
The Yorkshire route will also offer a more varied terrain. Eurosport’s Carlton Kirby commented this week that, in the desert landscape of Qatar, “You almost double your field of vision by standing on the local phone book.”
Yorkshire held off strong challenges from Colombia, Canada, Germany and Italy and will be hosting the event for the first time in 37 years. There is a £27m budget which includes a £15m investment in new facilities across the UK. Harrogate, home to 2016 Team Time Trial winner, Lizzie Deignan (formerly Armitstead) is likely to be the main hub for the different race categories.
