The Tour de Yorkshire promises to be a great celebration of all that isn’t wonderful about British cycling at this exact minute. All sorts of high profile riders are taking part, but they aren’t going to be asked about bike racing. They’re going to be asked whether anyone else at British Cycling refers to the para-cyclists as gimps. Knowing this, they’ll probably duck out of interviews wherever they can.
This is something of a shame, but hey-ho, life’s not about things coming together perfectly. It’s about bumbling along, making the best of things and having a pint every now and again to take the edge off.
The women’s race is a day race. Lizzie Armitstead is riding. So is reigning champion Louise Mahé – even though the organisers forgot to invite her team and had to shuffle things about a month ago when they realised/were told in no uncertain terms.
The men’s race has Bradley Wiggins, who will baffle casual fans by having no interest at all in winning.
Those who will be up for the challenge include Lars Petter Nordhaug, who won last year; British champion, Peter Kennaugh; Luke Rowe; Adam Yates; Warren Barguil, The Rider Called Rohan (Dennis); Jurgen Van den Broeck; and man-of-a-thousand-faces, Tommy Voeckler.
It’s also worth keeping your eye out for Nicolas Edet. He isn’t very well-known, but will almost certainly get in one of the day’s breaks and will almost certainly be the strongest rider in it. With the whole race being just three days long, a break can win the Tour de Yorkshire.
Finally, and most significantly, there’s Steve Cummings. As far as the men’s race goes, the answer to the question posed in the headline is Steve Cummings. Steve Cummings is who you should support in the 2016 Tour de Yorkshire.
Further reading: Cummings has spoken to The Guardian, looking forward to this weekend’s racing.
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