Tour de Yorkshire 2016

As the Tour de Yorkshire entered the third and final stage on Sunday with the 193km leg from Middlesbrough to Scarborough I was starting out in Great Ayton to shoot some pictures in the village ahead of the riders coming through later in the day.

Returning for a second year the hugely popular cycling race has now grown to be one of the most spectacular events in the British sporting calendar. Early reports from this year suggest that around 2 million people watched the race.

Like other legs in the race that took in some of the best scenery around Yorkshire the stage 3 leg would be no exception and even though the weather wasn’t the best the atmosphere among the spectators made up for it. Like most towns and villages along the route many people had come together within their communities to decorate their homes, buildings, walls, windows, benches, lamp posts or anything else that could be found with the yellow and blue race colours or the blue and white of Yorkshire.

Along with the bunting, flags and yellow bicycles there were many other quite imaginative ways of marking the event and everyone entered into the spirit of the occasion. Whilst I can’t speak for every town and village along the route of the Tour de Yorkshire this year I think it’s safe to say that without the support and enthusiasm of the communities along the route the race wouldn’t be half the occasion it has become.

After shooting and filing some pictures first thing from around Great Ayton I then covered the riders as they raced through and were encouraged by cheering crowds lining the streets of the village. After sending those in to the desk I then headed off to Whitby to concentrate on an area of the route that passed close to Whitby Abbey…