Cycling UK Forum

It's been reported on local news this evening that the 2019 World Road Championships will be held in Yorkshire.
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PS

For anybody who wonders if I've begun selling fruit and veg, I was undecided about the apostrophe and decided it was short for Championships of the World. That's my story, anyway.

Entirely appropriate! Another impressive achievement from sir Gary.

Yes, it was on the BBC national news earlier this evening. Great news.

Any idea whereabouts in Yorkshire? It's a big place.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/37631363

mjr wrote:Any idea whereabouts in Yorkshire? ...

Nope.

The local news item I saw was an attempt to give it maximum importance, but in the difficult circumstances of the current Word Championships being currently run elsewhere so all the main players except Gary Verity were inevitably absent from this Leeds presentation including the defending champion, local rider Lizzie Armitstead as was. Our female winner from the last time these championships were organised in the UK, Mandy Jones as was, was there but soon cut off by the presenter. There was a posse of local riders in blue and white striped jumpers who might well have been extras from a film about concentration camps.

Gary Verity was his usual impeccable self. There was a chap from the BCF (perhaps he had drawn the short straw so he couldn't be in Doha) but he began by praising what sounded like Mr Gravity for his contribution,

GV was asked about the route but it still has to be approved by the UCI. He said something along the lines that it would visit all four parts of Yorkshire and went on to explain the he meant North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire etc. If it's the traditional circuit format, it's hard to see how that would be feasible. I suppose different events might be organised in a couple of different venues in that somewhere out to the East might suit time trials and a competitive road circuit is more likely to the west of the A1. The need to be able to accommodate the roadside crowds excludes many places. While it's not the Alps, Holme Moss is a big enough climb for that type of event with a road wide enough for the race + vehicles and plenty of grass banking without National Park status for spectators.

So the short answer is still "Nope."

the route of the leeds classic as was for the RR?

AFAIK: generally, the road championships, especially élite men's - professionals' as was - is an endurance race on a circuit. Gary Verity's announcement of visiting all parts of Yorkshire would not be met by the Leeds Classic route, even extended by extra climbs of Holme Moss (for anybody who doesn't know, the Leeds Classic route involved two climbs of this hill but that route is entirely within West Yorkshire.) Perhaps the circuit format will not be used.

Why is it a circuit format? Is it to boost crowds along the route, if so, it didn't seem to work in Doha, I'm not sure Yorkshire would have the same problem, though I'm not sure the crowds will be as big for the world's as they were for the Tour de France, although the Tour o' Yorkshire, (I'm dropping the 'de' because it's stupid) still gets good crowds.

I only mentioned a circuit because AFAIK, that's how it's generally been done before. I don't know how much they depend on gate money these days, but a circuits the only way to get people to stump up. IIRC when they held it at Leicester, that aspect was a total cock-up because people were able to walk in without paying. There was some sort of badge system which was supposed to show stewards which spectators had paid but no enforcement. Perhaps the TV rights pay more now.

it would have to be one hell of a circuit to get the "millions of people" quoted in the article. maybe they're waiting to see who will be the dominant britsh riders for the event and tailoring the route to them.

The Worlds aren't always entirely a circuit race, but may have quite a long first segment before finishing on a circuit. For example 2010 was 80 km from Melbourne to Geelong, then laps of a 16km circuit, 2012 Valkenburg was 105 km plus 10x16 km laps, and Doha had a 150 km out & back desert leg followed by a 15 km circuit around the Pearl.
I'm sure that part of the reason for circuits it that many places don't have enough hills to get in the generally required amount of climbing without a fair number of repeats.

thirdcrank wrote:...climbs of Holme Moss (for anybody who doesn't know, the Leeds Classic route involved two climbs of this hill but that route is entirely within West Yorkshire.)

Unless they did a U-turn at the top and came back down they way they went up (twice), they must necessarily have visited Derbyshire - i.e. NOT entirely within West Yorkshire.

andrew_s wrote: ...

thirdcrank wrote:...climbs of Holme Moss (for anybody who doesn't know, the Leeds Classic route involved two climbs of this hill but that route is entirely within West Yorkshire.)

Unless they did a U-turn at the top and came back down they way they went up (twice), they must necessarily have visited Derbyshire - i.e. NOT entirely within West Yorkshire.

Yes: I was making this point in the context of Mr Gravity saying that the route would visit all four parts of Yorkshire. It would have been more accurate to have said that West Yorkshire was the only part of Yorkshire having any of the route of the Leeds Classic. I've seen it suggested somewhere in all the current discussion about TUE's and Whereabouts failures that the likely finish will be in Harrogate.
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PS I suppose it all depends on the source of funding. As I think I posted somewhere above, gate money = some sort of circuit. If they look for individual towns to chip in on the basis of extra tourist revenue then they'll take in as many as poss. There are still only a limited number of biggish climbs where roadside crowds can easily be accommodated. Whenever they show archive footage of the 2014 TdeF there's the big crowd at the top of Cragg Vale where the junction is in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Strictly speaking, hills aren't necessary, of course, and there have been some pretty flat courses but it would be a pity to run it in Yorkshire all on the flat.

it's probably feasible to cut off access at some point either side of climbs like holme moss on the day and charge admission. there are some other good climbs around that area too - i'd love to see the pro peloton climbing the road out of meltham in those parts. that might break up the bunch a tad.

Do the Worlds usually charge for anything other than the finish grandstands? A sparsely-populated route up the big climbs would probably undermine the "tunnel of noise" Tour-de-France-style crowds that I suspect were a big selling point of taking another major race to Yorkshire.

but it might allow the moto riders through and thereby prevent crashes & jogging to the summit.