- The UCI World Road Cycling Championships
are coming here to Yorkshire on September the 21st.
Now as a proud Yorkshire-man,
I'm extremely excited about this.
It's gonna be mint.
So, I'm going to take you through all the courses,
the races, what you can expect, the key locations,
and we're gonna get some insight
from one of the greatest Yorkshire cyclists of all time.
We're also gonna to do the GCN presenter
predictions slash kisses of death.
But before we do any of that, make sure you subscribe
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Right-O, let's have a gander at the races, then.
That's Yorkshire for look.
(upbeat music)
- The World's in Yorkshire is gonna be mint.
Not only is it a beautiful place,
every time a high profile bike race has come here,
the crowds have been phenomenal.
Yorkshire's really taken to cycling and it's great to see.
Now, for the World's, the stakes are high.
Win and you receive the coveted rainbow jersey,
which you then get to wear for the whole calendar year.
Now, it's a prize that's very prestigious.
But in Yorkshire, it's, well, it's not quite as prestigious
as winning the County Cricket Championship,
but prestigious nonetheless.
(piano music)
- The World Championships is actually several races
taking place over the course of a week.
But all the races finish here along this stretch of road
in the beautiful spa town of Harrogate.
It's spelt Harrogate, but it's pronounced Harrogate.
And this actually was also the site
of the finish of stage one of the 2014 Tour de France.
The stage won by Marcel Kittel.
And you may remember that Mark Cavendish sadly crashed out,
actually just there, by Betty's Tea Rooms.
The biggest events are the men's and women's elite races
on the 28th and 29th of September.
In addition to this, there are also the junior
and under 23 races, the para-cycling race,
and the timed trials.
The organisers have done a great job with the Worlds,
as the races are starting in different locations
but all finishing here in Harrogate.
Many of them on a 14 kilometre
finishing circuit in the town.
This is brilliant as it brings the event
and spectacle to a wider audience.
Full details of the routes, including the timings
can be found on the official website.
The link is in the description below.
The women's race is 150 kilometres long.
Starts in Bradford and goes over the categorised climb
of the Cote de Lofthouse
and then finishes with three laps
of the Harrogate circuit.
The men's race, the day after,
is 284 kilometres long.
This includes the categorised climbs of the Cote de Cray.
Buttertubs Pass, and Grinton Moor, before hitting
Harrogate for seven laps of the 14 kilometre circuit.
(dramatic music)
To get some expert insight
into the men's and women's elite races,
I'm gonna chat to one of the greatest Yorkshire cyclists
of all time.
Malcolm Elliot is a rider
that needs little introduction to many of you
but in case you're unfamiliar
he's a rider known for his sprinting prowess
as a multiple national Champion,
and also winner of the points classification
at the Vuelta Espagna.
He's also raced on, and won, many times
on these roads, in this demanding terrain,
making him an ideal chap to talk to.
Good to see you Malcolm.
- And you, Ollie.
- Yep, thanks for joining us.
So, we're on the, we're in Harrogate now,
we're on the 14 kilometre finishing circuit.
This is actually the finishing straight here, isn't it?
- Yeah, takes us back to Yorkshire 2014 isn't it?
- [Ollie] Yeah, yeah.
- [Malcolm] And the first days there.
- Yeah, and it's, well, this street is actually one way
so we can't actually drive this part of the circuit,
but we're gonna jump in the car
and have a look at the rest.
So, should we go?
- Let's do it.
- Nice.
(upbeat music)
So this is the final corner onto the finishing straight.
What would you make of this then, Malcolm?
- Well, it's tight, it's very tight,
it's pretty much impossible to get around
without removing somewhat, some, if not all
of the existing furniture here.
I think, for a World Championships,
it's quite probable that will happen.
They look relatively temporary.
That gonna enable a slightly faster approach
into this final turn up the climb here,
which is, it's an appreciable climb
'cause you're not gonna be carrying
that much speed into it anyway
and given the distance and the difficulty
of the finishing circuit,
it's gonna be really really selective.
- So we've had a look at the finishing circuit.
Behind us is the road that is the finishing straight.
The actual finish is just by some traffic lights,
just over there.
Now, just to give you a quick recap,
the men's race is 284 kilometres,
185 are tackled before they reach the finishing circuit.
And there's over 4,200 metres of climbing, which is massive.
The women's race is shorter,
that's 150 kilometres,
with around 2,600 metres of climbing in total.
So, based upon what you've seen
and the finishing circuit, Malcolm,
how do you think the racing's gonna play out
for both, well firstly the men
and then the women's races on these circuits?
- I think, obviously depends largely
how they decide they want to race it.
I think inevitably you're gonna get that early breakaway
or somebody going out there for, to chance their arm
at the early move, but it rarely ever, never works.
So, it's gonna be, there's effectively two races in one
as we said, 185 kilometres out there in the dells
which would be a demanding enough race,
in and of itself.
Then we're tacking on another 100 K kermesse course,
but with climbs and descents
and hairpins and narrow bridges.
- Very technical, as well.
- Yeah, very technical, and as I've said,
narrow, a lot of turns,
going to get back into the, into the residential streets
of Harrogate.
A lot of lefts and rights, and then again,
descents, slow turns, climbs out.
Great for spectators, but not so easy for, to, well
to race around, obviously.
But, it's gonna be a little bit easier,
rather more difficult, for a team
to get organised to be able to pull a chase
down the, pull a breakaway back if they need to.
- Based upon the sort of circuit you've seen,
what kind of rider do you think this is gonna best suit?
'Cause, if we think back to the 2014 tour,
for the men's course, that was the first 185 K
of this course, it's the same pretty much.
And the sprinters all made through the finish.
So you know, Cav and Kittel.
- Sure, yeah, sure there wasn't a rainbow jersey
at stake that day, which I think's gonna alter it,
and it was the first day
of three week, the three week grand tour.
So, it might've been a little bit more controlled.
I mean, it was still a fantastic day out,
but yeah that sprinters effectively all got there.
I think this World Championship's gonna be,
gonna be quite different,
given the fact that there's a rainbow jersey
and we've got the, it's gonna get raced differently
than the first ever grand tour.
And then you final 100 K's
of hard going, constant hard going around here,
a lot of concentration required
for what's gonna be a seven hour race.
- Fantastic, right thanks for your,
thanks for your time Malcolm.
It's been a pleasure talking to you.
- You're welcome.
- Yeah, good to see you.
(upbeat music)
- Riding in Yorkshire is hard.
Now, course profiles may look flat
when compared to a mountainous queen stage
of the Tour de France.
But anyone that's ridden here, including professionals,
will tell you that the reality is that they're anything but.
The road's characteristically feature
relentless undulations,
often with short, sharp, nasty, steep gradients.
And then that is combined
with lots of technical turns and road surfaces
which are often very rough and grippy
and this results in long, energy sapping, brutal days
in the saddle.
And that's before you even factor in the weather
which, to put it nicely, is, well, often inclement.
(upbeat music)
- So, with all that considered,
who do we think are the main contenders?
Well, if we look back to the 2014 Tour stage,
on that day, most of the big sprinters
made it to the finish.
And this suggests, that they could do here as well,
opening up the race to the likes of:
Caleb Ewan, Alexander Kristoff and Peter Sagan.
However, owing to his, well, amazing performances
and form this year,
and the punchy nature of the course,
Julian Alaphilippe is also one to watch.
And with breakthrough performances
in this year's classic season,
Mathieu van der Poel, the astonishing young talent
is also a surefire contender.
And after his recent, stunning win
in Clasica San Sebastian,
many will also be watching Remco Evenepoel.
There's a lot of people who could win this race,
which makes it very exciting.
In the women's race, all hoards of fans
are gonna be cheering for local girl,
Yorkshire lass, Lizzie Deignan.
The race even passes through her hometown in Otley.
But as a former World Champion,
if she's gonna be successful again,
she's gonna have to overcome the super strong Dutch squad,
which contains Annemiek can Vleuten,
Anna van der Breggen, Chantal Blaak,
and a resurgent Marianne Vos,
all of whom could potentially win the race themselves.
It's gonna be close, it's gonna be tough,
it's gonna be awesome.
Now, with all that considered,
it's time for the GCN presenter predictions
slash kisses of death.
So, I'm gonna go first, and in the men's race
I'm gonna say Mathieu van der Poel
and in the women's race, I'm rooting for the local girl,
Lizzie Deignan.
(beep)
- Well, actually Ollie,
we've had a meeting here at GCN,
amongst the presenters, without you,
behind your back,
and we decided we're not going to make predictions
six weeks before the actual event,
rather, we're going to wait for the big GCN preview
of all the contenders, one week before the event takes place
so that we know how their form is,
and whether they're actually riding in the first place.
Anyway, back to you, is there something that you can tell us
that is actually going to stay the same?
- So, where to watch the race?
Well, the big climbs along the routes
are always gonna make great spots.
So, Buttertubs Pass in the men's race,
that was incredible during the Tour de France,
and you can expect the same again.
And the same can be said, for Lofthouse
in the women's race.
But for me, I think the finishing circuit
in Harrogate will be amazing
because you get to see the action,
well, potentially seven times in the men's race,
three times in the women's.
And there's loads of great viewing spots,
technical corners and little climbs,
where you could see potential attacks go
in crucial moments in the race.
There's also gonna be big screens set up,
you'd imagine, and an amazing atmosphere
and places to get food and drink.
So, that would be my pick, but to be honest,
any of the villages through on the route,
they're gonna be an amazing atmosphere
and lots of bunting and great crowds.
So, take your pick.
(instrumental music)
Behind me, is, or I should say was
the bridge on Grinton Moore
which was washed away by a deluge
during a freak storm about a week ago.
This is actually on the course
for the men's route in the World Championships
and it hasn't been decided at the time of filming
what they're gonna do about it,
if they're gonna reroute it
or somehow fix it in time.
But the fact that there was this really bad weather here,
it gives you an idea
of just what the weather could do around here.
And that's just one of the things
that makes racing here really challenging and demanding.
But to get more of an idea
of the other things that make it hard,
here's our very own Chris Opie,
who's gonna tell you about his experiences
in the Tour de Yorkshire over the past few years.
- Riding the roads in Yorkshire, if you don't know,
is kind of unlike anything else in the world.
For a start, the roads, generally are lined
by two dry stone walls,
meaning the risk of crashing has a high consequence.
The road service then is seriously grippy,
it sucks you in and makes you fight for every pedal stroke.
There's barely a metre of flat in Yorkshire
and certainly where the World's are this year
is gonna be really tough for all the riders.
But to help get them through
are some of the best crowds on Earth.
The Tour de Yorkshire, generally speaking,
has crowds that rival only the Tour de France.
- I hope you've enjoyed this preview
and found it informative.
And if you have, then please give it a thumbs up
and share it with your chums.
That's Yorkshire for friends.
And also, let us know, in the comment section,
who you think is gonna win across the various races.
Having seen the courses now, I just can't wait.
I think the race is gonna be absolutely mega
and I'm gonna go for a proper brew now
'cause I've got a right thirst on.
See you later.