The 2019 Tour de Yorkshire was a four-day cycling stage race held in Yorkshire over 2–5 May 2019. It was the fifth edition of the
Tour de Yorkshire
The Tour de Yorkshire is a road cycling race in the historic county of Yorkshire, England which first took place in May 2015. It is promoted by the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) and is rated as a 2.HC event as part of the UCI Europe Tour. ...
, 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 Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) is part of the French media group Éditions Philippe Amaury. It organises the Tour de France and other cycling races, as well as golf, running, sailing and off-road motorsport events. The president of ASO is Je ...
. The race was rated as a
2.HC event as part of the
UCI Europe Tour
The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, the ...
.
The race started in
Doncaster
Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
on 2 May and finished in
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
on the 5 May. It was broadcast on
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
.
Route
In December 2018, the stages were announced, coupled with names, and the final stage of Halifax to Leeds being named ''The Yorkshire Classic''. The Halifax to Leeds race was also the final stage in the 2018 Tour de Yorkshire and at the launch event,
Sir Gary Verity revealed that this stage would be repeated as the final stage in each future iteration of the TdY, with a minor tweak or two.
This will result in a course totalling over four days. The course will also see the riders climb a cumulative over the four days, and for the first time, the women's race will be run on the Friday and Saturday (the 3 and 4 of May) using exactly the same routes as the men's race (stages 2 and 3).
Teams
Nineteen teams were announced as partaking in the event. These were:
In May 2019, Team Sky was renamed ''Team Ineos'' to reflect the change of sponsorship. This led to several representatives of
Doncaster Council
City of Doncaster Council is the local authority of the City of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England, based at the Doncaster Civic Office in Waterdale, central Doncaster. It is one of four local authories in South Yorkshire and provides the ma ...
stating that they will boycott the TdY when it goes through
Doncaster
Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
as a protest at
Ineos
INEOS Group Limited is a British multinational chemicals company headquartered and registered in London. , it is the fourth largest chemical company in the world.
Ineos is organised into about 20 standalone business units, each with its own b ...
and its fracking programme which has a drilling site at
Misson, just outside the Doncaster Council area. Councillor Dave Shaw accused the team of "rank hypocrisy" after riding with messages highlighting ocean pollution and that they were now accepting money "from one of the largest sources of that pollution."
An Ineos spokesperson refuted that and stated that "Ineos operate to the highest safety and environmental standards." Despite this, many protestors were present at the start of the stages. Friends of the Earth posted an open letter to David Brailsford, the team principal at Team Ineos, accusing Ineos of using the sport as a ''
greenwashing
Greenwashing (a compound word modeled on "whitewash"), also called "green sheen", is a form of advertising or marketing spin in which green PR and green marketing are deceptively used to persuade the public that an organization's products, aims ...
'' exercise. Brailsford said that the protestors were perfectly entitled to their opinion but also noted that the numbers at stage one were far less than the 15,000 that the anti-fracking community had anticipated.
One of Team Ineos' riders,
Chris Froome
Christopher Clive Froome ɹɪs fɹuːm (born 20 May 1985) is a Kenyan/British Road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . He has won seven Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours: four editions of the Tour de ...
also mentioned that other cycling teams had sponsors from the petrochemical industry. Froome said at the team launch on 1 May 2019;
Stephen Park, performance director at British Cycling, also weighed in to the controversy, stating his thoughts on the team takeover;
Protesters at Bridlington stated that Ineos were "disgusting" for using the event to promote their brand. One of those protesting said
Stages
Stage 1
;2 May 2019 —
Doncaster
Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
to
Selby
Selby is a market town and civil parish in the Selby District of North Yorkshire, England, south of York on the River Ouse, with a population at the 2011 census of 14,731.
The town was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire until ...
,
Stage 2
;3 May 2019 —
Barnsley
Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...
to
Bedale
Bedale ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the district of Hambleton, North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, it is north of Leeds, south-west of Middlesbrough and south-west of the county town of ...
,
Stage 3
;4 May 2019 —
Bridlington
Bridlington is a coastal town and a civil parish on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is about north of Hull and east of York. The Gypsey Race enters the North Sea at its harbour. The 2011 Cen ...
to
Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to:
People
* Scarborough (surname)
* Earl of Scarbrough
Places Australia
* Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth
* Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong
* Scarborough, Queensland, su ...
,
Stage 4
;5 May 2019 —
Halifax to
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
,
Classification leadership table
In the Tour de Yorkshire, four different jerseys were awarded. The
general classification
The general classification (or the GC) in road bicycle racing is the category that tracks overall times for riders in multi-stage races. Each stage will have a stage winner, but the overall winner in the GC is the rider who has the fastest cumulat ...
was calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage. Time bonuses were awarded to the first three finishers on all stages: the stage winner won a ten-second bonus, with six and four seconds for the second and third riders respectively. Bonus seconds were also awarded to the first three riders at intermediate sprints; three seconds for the winner of the sprint, two seconds for the rider in second and one second for the rider in third.
The leader of the general classification received a light blue and yellow jersey. This classification was considered the most important of the Tour de Yorkshire, and the winner of the classification was considered the winner of the race.
The second classification was the
points classification
The points classification is a secondary award category in road bicycle racing. Points are given for high finishes and, in some cases, for winning sprints at certain places along the route, most often called ''intermediate sprints''. The points cl ...
. Riders were awarded points for finishing in the top ten in a stage. Unlike in the
points classification in the Tour de France
The points classification () is a secondary competition in the Tour de France, which started in 1953. Points are given for high finishes in a stage and for winning intermediate sprints, and these are recorded in a points classification. It is con ...
, the winners of all stages were awarded the same number of points.
Points were also won in intermediate sprints; five points for crossing the sprint line first, three points for second place and one for third. The leader of the points classification was awarded a green jersey.
There was also a
mountains classification
The King of the Mountains (KoM) is an award given to the best climbing specialist in a men's cycling road race; in women's cycle racing
A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a femal ...
, for which points were awarded for reaching the top of a climb before other riders. Each climb was categorised the same, with four points awarded to the first rider over the top of each climb.
Two points were awarded for the second-placed rider, with one point for third place. The leadership of the mountains classification was marked by a pink jersey.
Another jersey was awarded at the end of each stage. This was a combativity prize and was awarded to the rider who "made the greatest effort and
..demonstrated the best qualities in terms of sportsmanship". A jury selected a list of riders to be eligible for the prize; the winner of the prize was then decided by a vote on
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
. The rider was awarded a grey jersey.
There was also a classification for teams, in which the times of the best three cyclists in a team on each stage were added together; the leading team at the end of the race was the team with the lowest cumulative time.
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tour de Yorkshire, 2019
2019 in English sport
2019 UCI Europe Tour
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
Tour de Yorkshire
The Tour de Yorkshire is a road cycling race in the historic county of Yorkshire, England which first took place in May 2015. It is promoted by the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) and is rated as a 2.HC event as part of the UCI Europe Tour. ...