Stage 2 of the Tour de France 2014 - Part 1

The route of this stage leaves York, skirts the bottom edge of the Dales before turning South through the South Pennines and Peak District to Sheffield. Like before, I wanted to look at the key parts of the stage where the action might happen on the day.

On this stage, the major hills start near Haworth and continue all the way to the finish, so these are what I wanted to ride.  I have made two circular rides from home that cover these hills, with the first loop covering the section from Oxenhope to Holmfirth. So, I set off at the weekend from home with a good friend and a route plan to Oxenhope, skirting Huddersfield and Halifax on the way - a great route itself on lovely roads, but not the subject of this post! Then, near Oxenhope, picking up the Tour route over the moors back to Hebden Bridge, then Cragg Vale and Ripponden before heading home.

Having ridden this first group of hills, I don't see them shaking up the GC. (The same can't be said for the next part of this stage, but more of this in another post!) The road over the moors to Hebden Bridge is not steep and the bunch should stay together here. There is a long and testing ride still to come to get to the finish line.

The descent to Hebden Bridge is fast, and the surface is quite poor and twisty in places with cobbled sleeping policeman to add interest! It shouldn't be too much of a problem though with the roads clear of traffic and parked cars. Even the junction at the bottom of the climb is favourable to the direction of the race. It will be make good viewing though, especially the descent at speed through the terraced houses lining the steep valley.

For us, it was time for a coffee and cake by the river, as well as a chance to check out a nearby cobbled climb known as the Buttress. This 1:3 lane doesn't feature on the official route!

After leaving Hebden Bridge, the route heads to the Cragg Vale climb. According to the sign, it is the longest continuous uphill gradient in England at just over 8km. It even has new kilometre markers on the road. But the gradient is friendly, although the wind usually isn't so nice on the exposed upper kilometres of the climb. On the day, it will probably be ridden at tempo by the bunch, pegging the time gap to any breakaway, but perhaps with pressure to get into a good position for the coming descent.

Once at the top of the Cragg Vale road, the route turns sharply left heading downhill to Ripponden. The Yorkshire Grand Départ makes the first of two forays into neighbouring counties here as the top of the Cragg Vale road passes over the Lancashire border. Only for a few hundred metres though, as the route quickly crosses back into Yorkshire!

The descent to Ripponden is fast on open and wide roads all the way into the valley bottom. And often wind assisted - as it was at the weekend! The final few hundred metres down into the village centre is the steepest and fastest part. And for the race, this leads straight into a sharp 90 degree downhill right hander, which will be made more interesting by the speed they will be travelling plus a central traffic island in the side road that isn't easy to spot until you're at the corner. Now, it's not the worst corner of the day in comparison to what is coming later, but the GC teams should be pushing for a good position by the top of the Cragg Vale climb and keeping this pressure on down the descent to make sure their GC riders get around this corner safely.

After a very short downhill section to cross the river, the road heads sharply uphill at gradients up to 16% for the most testing climb up until now. But the tarmac is the best surface so far, and it is too far away from the finish to cause any damage with fast and open roads coming. So, I don't expect fireworks here once the riders are on the climb with the pressure possibly easing possibly until the Woodhead Pass. But the teams may be riding full gas to get to bottom of this climb in a good and safe position. If you want to see the peloton strung out in a long line, the corner in Ripponden could be one place to go.

At the top of Ripponden Bank, the Tour route heads down into Elland before climbing over Ainley Top and descending to Huddersfield and onto Holmfirth on a mixture of dual carriageways and main roads. Not wanting to do this, the top of Ripponden Bank marked where we left the Tour route to follow more interesting roads home; but roads not suited to a big race so I've no complaints there!

So at the end of this first group of hills, I don't see any major shake-ups. A breakaway will probably be away from earlier in the stage - it is the Tour de France after all. Whilst it might not be a sprinters' stage, I think a factor against a break sticking to the end of the stage will be the pressure for good positioning leading into the much more testing climbs and roads to come - more of this in the next part.

But at least as far as Holmfirth, I think the peloton will be together and probably riding conservatively to save energy for what is coming. Perhaps with Cavendish's team pegging the time gap to the breakaway to try to protect the yellow jersey! But can be make it to the finish line in the leading peloton?

Next: Part 2 of Stage 2 including Holme Moss and the Strines to the finish.