The 2016 Women's Tour de Yorkshire was a cycling one-day race that took place in Yorkshire in April 2016. It was the first edition of the

Women's Tour de Yorkshire The Women's Tour de Yorkshire is a women's road cycling race in Yorkshire, England. From 2015 to 2017, the event was a one-day race. From 2018 onwards, the event has been a two-day event, with a UCI race classification of 2.1. The event is the ...

and was organised by

Welcome to Yorkshire Welcome to Yorkshire (WTY) is the official tourism agency for the traditional county of Yorkshire, the UK's largest county, promoting Yorkshire tourism both nationally and internationally. It was formerly known as the Yorkshire Tourist Board ...

and the Amaury Sport Organisation. The race started in Otley, ended in Doncaster and was rated as a 1.2 event. The race was won by

Kirsten Wild Kirsten Carlijn Wild (born 15 October 1982) is a Dutch former professional racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2004 and 2021, for eight professional teams. During her track cycling career, Wild rode at the Summer Olympic Games in 2012 ...

() in a bunch sprint. Notable race entrants also included reigning world champion,

Lizzie Armitstead Elizabeth Mary Deignan (née Armitstead; born 18 December 1988) is an English professional world champion track and road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . She was the 2015 World road race champion. Deignan is ...

who raced for the Great Britain national team, as well as the return of former world time trial champion, Emma Pooley. Pooley stated she would make her return to cycling as part of her build up and bid for

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

selection.

Teams

Route

Starting in Otley, the race headed east towards Harewood, where the women would tackle the first categorised climb of the day – the 1.2 km ''Côte de Harwood'' averaging 5% in gradient. The race would continue east, heading through

East Keswick East Keswick is a village and civil parish in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, West Yorkshire, England. It lies four miles south west of Wetherby. The population of the civil parish as of the 2011 census was 1,146. Etymology The name of ...

taking on the second classified climb of the day – the ''Côte de East Rigton''. The second climb was slightly shorter, at 0.8 km, but boasted a steeper average gradient of 8.2%. The race now headed south, to the intermediate sprint point in Scholes. After the sprint point, the route would take the riders south east, to Sherburn-in-Elmet, then south to Knottingley. After passing through Pontefract the route headed south through

Wentbridge Wentbridge is a small village in the City of Wakefield district of West Yorkshire, England. It lies around southeast of its nearest town of size, Pontefract, close to the A1 road. The village contains one of the largest viaducts in Europe, it ...

South Elmsall South Elmsall ( ) is a town and civil parish in the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England. South Elmsall lies to the east of Hemsworth The town had a population in 2001 of 6,107, increasing to 6,519 at the 2011 Census. History The town ...

and

Hooton Pagnell Hooton Pagnell is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England, on the border with West Yorkshire. It lies on the B6422 road, between Brodsworth and South Elmsall and is at an elevation of aro ...

. After skirting round the westerly side of Doncaster the riders would go through the second intermediate sprint point at

Warmsworth Warmsworth is a village, Civil parish and suburb of Doncaster in the City of Doncaster district in South Yorkshire, England. Its population was estimated at 3,908 in 2019. The village lies along the A1(M) Doncaster Bypass and the A630. The Riv ...

and would almost immediately tackle the final and shortest classified climb of the day, the 0.5 km 6.5% ''Côte de Conisbrough Castle''. The final stages of the race saw the route pass through Tickhill and

Bawtry Bawtry is a market town and civil parish in the City of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England. It lies between Doncaster, Gainsborough and Retford, on the border with Nottinghamshire and close to Lincolnshire. The town is historically part of ...

before heading north to finish line in Doncaster.

Race overview

The race was won by the Dutch rider

() in a bunch sprint taking victory ahead of Lucy Garner () and

Floortje Mackaij Floortje Mackaij (born 18 October 1995) is a Dutch professional road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . After switching from speed skating to road cycling she became the 2013 junior Dutch National time trial Champion ...

( Liv-Plantur). The race started in Otley with Swiss national time trial champion,

Doris Schweizer Doris Schweizer (born 28 August 1989) is a Swiss racing cyclist, who most recently rode for UCI Women's Continental Team . She was the winner of the Swiss National Road Race Championships in 2013 and 2016 and the Swiss National Time Trial Champi ...

building an early lead of over three minutes within the first 75 km. Towards the second half of the race the sprinters teams came to the fore and began to eat into the lead carved out by Schweizer. With a trimmed lead of only 25 seconds at the summit of Conisbrough Castle, Schweizer was caught by world road race champion

and Canadian rider Leah Kirchmann with around 36 km to go. The trio now joined forced and forged their lead out to over a one minute with 15 km remaining in the race. As the route headed north, back towards Doncaster, the trio encountered a strong headwind – handing the initiative back to the chasing peloton – led by and

Alé Cipollini UAE Team ADQ is a professional cycling team based in Italy, which competes in elite road bicycle racing events such as the UCI Women's World Tour. In the 2022 season, it had a roster of 15 riders representing eight different nationalities. Tea ...

. With 10 km to go the lead stood at 45 seconds, but the trio were caught with less than 5 km to go, resulting in Wild opening the bunch sprint with 150 m to go, taking the win by a bike length from Garner.

Aftermath

The race was notable for a number of reasons other than it being a new Women's race in Great Britain. The race boasted a significant prize fund of £50,000, with the victor taking home £15,000. At the race is longer than six one day races which comprise the

UCI Women's WorldTour The UCI Women's World Tour is the premier annual female elite road cycling tour. History In order to increase the coverage of Women's cycling the UCI held a summit in December 2014 between the UCI Women’s Working Group and the UCI Women's ...

, as well as being close to the maximum limit of for Women's races. The race should have been broadcast live on both Eurosport and ITV4, however technical issues with the relay aeroplane meant there were little, to no, live pictures.

Final classification

2015 UEC Track Elite European Championships 229

References

{{Tour de Yorkshire Tour de Yorkshire Tour de Yorkshire Women Tour