Redcar takes centre stage as Tour of Britain returns to Yorkshire

Back in November 2019, Redcar, which is seven miles to the east of Middlesbrough, was selected by Welcome to Yorkshire as a host town for a stage of the 2020 Tour de Yorkshire.

Cycling was still big business in Yorkshire back then, despite the scandal that had rocked the tourism agency and sent Sir Gary Verity - the architect of the boom when he brought the Tour de France to the Board Acres in 2014 - into hibernation. Memories of the county’s staging of the UCI Road World Championships only two months earlier were still fresh, and Redcar was at last about to play its part.

Then the Covid pandemic hit, the 2020 Tour de Yorkshire was cancelled, the 2021 edition went a similar way and Welcome to Yorkshire went out of business.

A Tour de Yorkshire may return as a one-day race in 2024, but for now, the momentum is lost.

But not so fast. For today, Redcar gets its moment in the cycling sunshine at long last when it hosts the start of the fourth stage of the 2022 AJ Bell Tour of Britain.

Different race, two years later than planned, but do not be surprised if Redcar Esplanade is thronged with families enjoying the civic pride that comes with hosting a big cycling event come 11.30am, when the riders in the Tour of Britain peloton turn their wheels on the day’s action.

It is the first time the Tour has come to Yorkshire in nine years, and the first time to the northern part of the county in 13 years.

After setting off from Redcar, the 149.5km stage beats a path through seaside towns such as Saltburn-by-the-Sea and Whitby before cutting inland into the North York Moors National Park.

The unforgiving final 30 kilometres of the stage features the climbs of Carlton Bank (2km long, 9.8 per cent average gradient) and Newgate Bank (2km long, six per cent average gradient) before descending into the finish at Duncombe Park, one of Yorkshire’s finest historic houses and estates.

Belgian Kamiel Bonneu produced a late attack to claim victory after a four-man breakaway on stage three in Sunderland on Tuesday.

Sport Vlaanderen–Baloise rider Bonneu, 23, made his move over the final kilometre to beat Ben Perry (Wiv SunGod), Alexandar Richardson (Saint Piran) and Mathijs Paasschens (Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB) at Keel Square.

Ethan Hayter will aim for more success at the UCI road world championships in Australia as part of a 26-strong Great Britain team, but Leeds’s Tom Pidcock, pictured, will miss the event to rest.

Hayter will contest both the road race and time-trial in Wollongong, which hosts the event from September 18 to 25.

Doncaster’s Ben Turner and Rotherham’s Ben Swift are also included in the GB team.

Pidcock, though, will not travel to Australia as he takes a break from a relentless schedule.

In the women’s team, Pfeiffer Georgi is joined by Commonwealth Games time-trial runner-up Anna Henderson, as well as Anna Shackley and Lizzie Holden.