Scarborough or Bust - Tour De Yorkshire 2016: Stage 3

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The Tour de France had a profound effect on sport in Yorkshire. A county famed for it's sporting heritage. The all dominant Leeds United football team are no longer a force - turned into a sorry state by a few recent years of miss-management and poor ownership choices. Jason has brought back a spell of success for the cricket connoisseurs and across the Headingly way, the Rhinos have been top dogs. Cycling, though - it was never in the frame. The choice of the Tour de France organising committee to favour Leeds with a Grand Depart in 2014 changed all that. Cycling has exploded. Real men wearing lycra now abound the back lanes.



The Tour went off on a magical merry-go-round, showcasing the tourism prospects of God's own country. The Stray at Harrogate to the cobbles at Harworth. The good people from the tourist office HQ looked skyward and thanked those above for the publicity and waited for the visitors to descend. However not content to rest on their laurels, they decided to capitalise on the lycra explosion and the Tour de Yorkshire was born! An easy concept, but presumably a bit more than difficult to plan. A balance needs to be struck with making the race worthwhile for the cycle teams, whilst highlighting all those great places you could visit within the confines of the County boundary ....... though you can cheat a bit if you want and send it over the Nottinghamshire border - purely for cycling reasons, of course. The excursion this year was along Scrooby Road in Bircotes, where a small plaque stands by the road to British cycling legend Tommy Simpson. The modern day enthusiast thinks Bradley Wiggins, Chris Frome and Mark Cavendish, but this guy was the first Briton to win a Tour de France stage amongst other things. Alas, he died on a climb in the Alps on the 1967 Tour. He had fallen ill on the 10th Stage, but remained in the race under pressure from his management. He collapsed on the climb to Mount Ventoux and despite being airlifted to hospital, died officially of heart failure. Simpson had taken alcohol and amphetamine, which combined with the heat and physical endurance of the climb proved fatal. The plaque in Bircotes is small, but the real tribute is on the roadside at Mount Ventoux. The modern day competitors apparently tip their caps, as they cycle past.



This was the 3rd Stage of the Tour de Yorkshire 2016. Middlesbrough to Scarborough the long way round. The event had been embraced by Teesside. The Gazette and BBC Radio Tees - "proud of where we live" - had plugged it heavily. The vantage points were all listed - the town Town Centre in Middlesbrough outside MIMA. Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art - almost New York, I know - but not quite. Up Linny Road and through Albert Park - passing Cloughie's statue and on up Marton Road to Stewart Park. The next landmark would be Captain Cook's birthplace - he would head off to find a place for Teesside steel to built an iconic bridge i.e. Sydney Harbour, but nobody knew that at the time. He started his journey, by going to school in Great Ayton. After the official start of the Stage near Nunthorpe, this would be the first village the Tour would hit.



It was tipping down with rain, as we parked the car. We had chosen Great Ayton, as our first viewing of the day. The village centre is quite constricted, with a couple of decent bends. The novice cycle event watchers are not always in tune with how fast these guys can travel. I would laugh later in the day, as spectators would attempt in vain to take a photo of the cyclists speeding through the centre of Castleton with a mobile phone - on the route down from the Lion at Blakey Ridge, thee guys ran out of gears with which to pedal and hit in excess of 80 kilometres per hours (or 50 miles per hours in old money)! The village was decorated in yellow and blue bunting. The spray painting stockists had been lucky - yellow and blue sold out. The second hand bike market market of the area had been snapped up and mercilessly spray painted. BMX bikes.... Old racing bikes..... Kids tricycles....Even a unicycle - all decorated and hoisted into position. Hanging from trees. Chained to railings. Attached to shop fronts. Captain Cook had not escaped. The small statue on the village green had been decorated for the occasion. It was a trader's heaven. Sunday morning and Suggitt's Icecreams were doing a brisk business, even though it was chucking it down with rain. We opted for a takeaway latte from Stamps. The Other Half came out singing the praises of the staff coping with the onslaught of customers. The chippy was also enjoying a bonanza - a major sporting event promoting healthy living and people were on a tray of chips at 11 am on a Sunday morning. They were perhaps on their way home - only on Teesside! We settled for healthy living - a free doughnut from a well known Yorkshire supermarket (which we have just discovered uneaten in the Other Half's bag).



We took up a position on the bend approaching from Newton Road. The rain continued to pelt down. The dog expressed her displeasure had having to wear her new coat and we waited for the peloton to arrive ....... we know all the terms! The women's race was only over days, so we would not be reunited with Lizzie Armistead. Sir Bradley had been involved in a crash on Stage 1, so he was now relegated to riding in the Team Wiggins car. It actually doesn't make much difference, a even on a bend the speed is frightening. The police outriders came through first. Blue lights flashing. Waving their arms to generate atmosphere. The team cars were a range from the extensive collection of JCT600 dealerships. The spare cycles and technical equipment packed on for the technicians to perform miracles, if required. In 5 minutes, it was all over - they were half way to Stokesley, before the buzz of the crowd had died down. We set sail - in Captain Cook terms - for Whitby.



The roads around Guisborough were chaos. The main volume of cars were being hindered by cyclists, attempting to reach a section of the race on the North Yorkshire Moors. The traffic came to complete stand still. A accident was reported. We abandoned the "Moor" Road, in favour of the "Coast" Road - more than one way to skin a cat to get to Whitby. There was a deadline to meet. The road where we planned to intercept the race above the Abbey was due to close cira 2.30 pm, so we needed to get parked up. The path ran smoothly. Whitby was seemingly quiet, as we cut down from Pannett Park and over the high level bridge. The No Waiting cones on Green Lane for once made it a smooth passage up there. I parked up and ventured into the warm. of my Uncle's front room. We watched the race unfold, before retreating back to the Cote de Highgate to catch the climb. I settled on a spot I had seen in last year's Whitby Gazette, looking for the angle to catch the Abbey in the background of the cyclists ascending up the hill. A distressed looking young chap raced down to our position ... "Can you move? I've been waiting here 2 hours" . I wanted to say, "so I have I mate - watching the race unfold on ITV 4 " or, " we've been here generations, go and check my Great Gran in the photos in the Sutcliffe Gallery in town". I didn't, because he looked like he might burst into tears at any point. We moved across the road. The dog was happy - new smells. A VIP car drew up and upset a few folks waiting. They took a couple of photo shots of the distant Abbey and sped off. A press car pulled on to the verge. The occupant settled down beside me. It would be a favoured place. One of the cycling support vans pulled back further into his layby place to reveal the Scarborough or Bust sign with a haul of ladies underwear garments hanging beneath. We waited for the now familiar routine of police outriders and sponsor cars. A few climbs in the Moors section had taken their toll - it wasn't surprising really, it is bad enough climbing from Hutton le Hole in a car! I snapped away at the riders. They were quite as quick by this point. The press photographer next to me gave a reassured nod -"best photos of the day" he announced in his French accent. A good place". The cyclists raced on towards the finish in Scarborough's North Bay. He jumped back in his car and did likewise. Scarborough or bust?

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Comments

[Rainyb]

Love your dog!! ;o)

[Rainyb]

Nice coutryside! Why all the extra bikes? The cyclists have more than one i guess ;o)