Story highlights
The 2014 Tour de France will start in Britain for first time since 2007
Three stages will be held in Britain before competition moves across the Channel
2012 champion Bradley Wiggins hoping for good start in front of home fans
Remaining stages of Tour will be announced in Paris on October 23
The feelgood factor which surrounded the London Olympics has been credited with bringing the Tour de France to Britain.
The 2014 race, which will begin in the northern English county of Yorkshire on July 5, will have three stages before moving across the channel.
Bradley Wiggins became the first British man to win the Tour last year and led the way as the host enjoyed a hugely successful Olympic Games.
English county Yorkshire to host start of 2014 Tour de France
Christian Prudhomme, Tour de France Director told the competition’s official website: “The Grand Départ of the Tour de France 2007 in London, the first ever organised in the United Kingdom, will remain unforgettable. We are very glad to return, seven years after, to this magnificent city.
“We hope and trust that the 2014 Grand Départ will be just as spectacular: this is my wish, and I don’t think I need to worry, as it seems very likely to come true given how impressed we were with the passion and desire of our friends from Yorkshire ever since we first met.
Wiggins the first Tour de France victory for British cyclist
“At that time, we were considering a return to the UK for the Tour in 2016- 2017. That was before British cycling’s golden summer. Bradley Wiggins’ historic victory in the Tour de France combined with the phenomenal success of the cycling events during the Olympic Games convinced us that we should come back earlier and, to tell the truth, as quickly as possible.”
The 101st edition of ‘Le Tour’ will start with a 190 kilometer ride through the Yorkshire Dales National Park before reaching Harrogate, where the first yellow jersey will be presented.
The riders will then complete the Holme Moss climb the following day as they weave their way from York to Sheffield before heading south towards London on July 7.
The peloton will pass the Olympic Park, the River Thames, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey.
The final stage will finish at the Mall in front of Buckingham Palace where huge crowds are expected.
Over one million people lined the streets six years ago when the tour passed from London through to Canterbury in Kent.
“In its 110 years, the Tour will depart for a second time from Great Britain, but it’s a second time in seven years, proof of the development of cycling in the United Kingdom,” added Prudhomme.
The remaining stages of the 2014 Tour will be revealed in Paris on October 23.