New sportive announced: York to Sheffield

pinno
pinno Posts: 52,091
edited January 2013 in The cake stop
Re: TdF 2014.

Not really, just a pipe dream.

A British version of Le Marmotte for years to come...

Could you really see them shut the roads down annually for something like that, the miserable baskets ?
seanoconn - gruagach craic!

Comments

  • edhornby
    edhornby Posts: 1,780
    etape caledonia

    etape cymru
    "I get paid to make other people suffer on my wheel, how good is that"
    --Jens Voight
  • rodgers73
    rodgers73 Posts: 2,626
    There are big chunks of that route on the Woodhead Pass to Manchester. Its a major route for trucks and Sheffield to Manc traffic (very common route for people going on holiday via Manchester airport). I'd be surprised if they could close that route without some pretty big complaints. I did the Etape Cymru and none of the roads it used compare to Woodhead in volume of traffic etc
  • thegreatdivide
    thegreatdivide Posts: 5,807
    pinarello001 wrote:
    Re: TdF 2014.

    Not really, just a pipe dream.

    A British version of Le Marmotte for years to come...

    Could you really see them shut the roads down annually for something like that, the miserable baskets ?

    With 0.5% of the climbing.
  • thegibdog
    thegibdog Posts: 2,106
    I make it about 65% of the climbing of the Marmotte - around 11,000ft versus 17,000ft. It's pretty hilly!

    Lots of busy A-roads though as mentioned.
    https://gibworth.mypixieset.com
  • pinno
    pinno Posts: 52,091
    No B roads to link the two cities ?
    seanoconn - gruagach craic!
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    Probably would make more sense to use stage one for several reasons - less busy roads, fewer towns to pass through, scenery even better, start and end points close together. If it wasn't felt to be hard enough, it would be easy enough to replace the Buckden - Aysgarth section with Fleet Moss and add another climb back from Swaledale into Wensleydale.
    thegibdog wrote:
    I make it about 65% of the climbing of the Marmotte - around 11,000ft versus 17,000ft. It's pretty hilly!

    Hill gradients steeper I'd expect as well. Does make a difference.
    Faster than a tent.......
  • Tom Butcher
    Tom Butcher Posts: 3,830
    edited January 2013
    Marmotte is mainly on open roads of course. It'd be great to have a UK version of the Marmotte but it'd get ridiculously popular if it became established - you'd need about 50,000 places for it. I reckon if say Yorkshire decided to use the Tour to get behind the idea it might work - yes you'd need closed roads in the UK and a very staggered start so it'd be an all day event - but say 50k times £50 is £2.5 million - that must pay for a lot of closed roads ?

    It's a question of getting it establised - if it existed I think it'd be accepted - but starting it up and getting it established is the problem. It'd need a local authority/regional govt behind it and something like the Tour to kickstart it.
    it's a hard life if you don't weaken.
  • pinno
    pinno Posts: 52,091
    We are sitting on a wave at the moment and I don't think (hope) that it has 'crested' yet. Things like this would put cycling into the folklore - like it is in Belgium and France. The Paris Roubaix sportive is run twice a year because of over subscription. Random sportives are great and are starting to become legendary (for want of a better expression) - the Dragon Ride, Etape Caledonia etc but something with an intrinsic link to a significant event would somehow give it permanance and credibility, maybe even international status. The Cal Etape pulls in £1.5m annually despite a certain tw4t trying to wreck it.
    Wasn't the Marmotte inaugurated after the TdF in 1973 ? We have a long way to go.
    Imagine the Strava bagging for comparison with the pro's... Sorry, I am dreaming again.
    seanoconn - gruagach craic!

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